Nad Narimani snapped Paddy Pimblett’s nine-fight win streak and took his Cage Warriors featherweight title after five rounds of action when the duo met in Liverpool in April.
One of the biggest prospects on the European scene, Pimblett believes that he owes his hometown people in Liverpool a show when he steps back in the Cage Warriors cage Oct. 28, when he faces unbeaten German, Vladimir Sikic.
Commenting on the Narimani loss, the 22-year-old claimed the defeat “still burns” five months later.
“I want to put on a show in front of my own people,” Pimblett told Ariel Helwani on the latest edition of The MMA Hour.
“This is about redemption. This couldn’t have been anywhere else. In my eyes, I made a show of my own people, in front of my own people. I had a proper bad night and I owe them more than the price they paid for those tickets – I need to put a show on.
“I just didn’t perform that night, it still hurts. It still burns me inside thinking about it, but I don’t know what happened, it’s just one of them things.
“I’m going to be switched on this time and Vladimir Sikic isn’t going to know what hit him. He’s going to be getting finished fast and with a purpose.”
Pimblett recalled how he tried to strike with Narimani to appease the crowd back in April. He also highlighted an illness that fell on him on the day of the fight, which led to some awkward moments in the changing rooms before he took to the cage.
According to the former champion, he vomited up a black substance just after the fight.
“It was all black, it was horrible to be honest,” said Pimblett. “I think I had food poisoning or something. It was rough.
He continued: “I think it was gastroenteritis or something, because I was farting my head off as well in the (changing room) before it. At one point I thought I had followed through!
“I started looking around, but I had just farted. Everybody was saying, ‘You stink, lad’ and I was proper burping and they were stinking as well.
“The fellah who was wrapping my hands was saying, ‘Ah, what’s going on there, lad?’” he relayed, laughing.
Although he suffered defeat in his last outing at the Echo Arena, Pimblett is confident Cage Warriors 88 will be a sell out when the promotion rolls into town Oct. 28.
“I know it will sell out even though I lost the last time,” he said. “People will want to come and watch us all fight, not just me.
“Liverpool is the MMA hub of the UK, it is. People think Ireland is and it’s not. Liverpool is. There are that many gyms in a small amount of space. So many good fighters come from this city.
“I can’t wait to get back in there and shut a lot of people up.”
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