Paddy Pimblett: ‘I’ll be lucky to fight this year’ after ankle injury downgrade

Paddy Pimblett’s return may take longer than expected after the U.K. star got some bad news about an ankle injury he suffered in a controversial decision win over Jared Gordon at UFC 282.

Sky Sports caught up with Pimblett on crutches as he detailed his difficult recovery from the injury, which he said took place in the first round of the fight this past December in Las Vegas.

“I’m about to get surgery after my last fight,” Pimblett said. “I hurt my foot in the first round, in like the first minute or two, threw a kick, hurt it. I felt it, but obviously, we crack on, we get through the fight.

“At the end of the fight, I can remember going back to the medical room just saying my foot is sore. Couldn’t get it looked at properly until I got home. Then, when the actual swelling went down – I didn’t know when to get surgery – it was a lot worse than we thought. I had to get inner and outer ligament surgery – well, reconstruction. So it’s big.”

Pimblett scored unanimous scorecards of 29-28 to extend his UFC winning streak to four fights. All but one of the 24 media outlets who scored the fight disagreed with the judges, giving Gordon the nod. Pimblett lashed out at reporters afterward, saying he was “baffled” by the call in his favor being deemed a robbery.

Pimblett said he could need at lease another six weeks on crutches – he’d already been on them for six weeks – and is unsure of his timeline for a return to the octagon.

“I’ll be lucky to fight this year,” he said.

Potential opponents lined up to fight Pimblett after his win this past December, but the U.K. star also welcomed a rematch with Gordon to silence doubters. At the media day for his fight Saturday at UFC Vegas 71, Gordon said the rematch call was evidence he was “living rent-free” in Pimblett’s head.