Paddy Pimblett is confused by reactions to Bobby Green vs. Jared Gordon from UFC Vegas 71 this past weekend.

Gordon getting bit by the bad luck bug is an understatement as of late. The veteran lightweight competitor was surging towards the end of 2022 off an impressive unanimous decision win over Leonardo Santos in August before drawing the rising star in Pimblett for December at UFC 282. After some late shuffling to the card thanks to an injury in the main event, the pair even got co-main event billing.

Unfortunately for Gordon, he suffered a unanimous decision loss in what a vast majority of the MMA community considers the robbery of the year, and just one of the worst decisions in recent memory. Gordon and Pimblett have since expressed their openness to a rematch, but Gordon first had to get through the aforementioned “King” Green. Ultimately, an unintentional illegal clash of heads spelled the end for Gordon, dropping him before Green pounded him out with punches, turning the fight into a no-contest as the action was waved off by referee Keith Peterson.

“I didn’t really care, to be honest,” Pimblett told Severe MMA. “My reaction more was people’s reaction after pissed me off. It’s mad, lad. Bobby Green stands there with his hands down getting left hooked by Jared Gordon and it gets called a striking masterclass. I stand there getting left hooked and I’m s***. People have got their own prerogative.”

Pimblett’s win over Gordon is only one of the controversial wins the 28-year-old Brit has earned in his 23-fight career and he’s willing to admit it.

In November 2016, Pimblett’s first Cage Warriors featherweight title defense came against his now-fellow UFC roster member Julian Erosa. Thanks to his popularity and speedy rise to fame in the UFC, Pimblett has become an easy target for critique and his recent fight result didn’t help. Against Erosa, however, “The Baddy” knows that the five-round unanimous decision win very well could have and arguably should have gone the other way.

“I’ve been dealing with s*** like this for years, lad,” Pimblett said. “I’m used to this s***, lad. People can say what they want about me. It’s never gonna change me.

“I’ll be honest, I think the Julian Erosa fight was closer than the Jared Gordon fight. I think now personally if we were using the new judging criteria Julian Erosa would have beat me that night, definitely. If that fight was when the judging criteria changed, I would have lost that fight, 100 percent. I won the first three rounds because of control, taking him down, getting on top of him, making him feel my weight. I know for a fact now if that fight was now, me vs. Erosa, and it played out exactly the same, he would get the nod 100 percent. Just like I think with the Jared Gordon fight, he’d get the nod if it was like that then because of the way he just held me in the third round.”

It remains uncertain if Pimblett and Gordon will ever have their rematch, especially as Gordon now is in pursuit of another rematch with Green. Pimblett entered his last bout with a foot injury that he recently got surgery on to fix, leaving his return to action entirely unknown at present. Despite the time that’s passed, he still feels pretty confident about rightfully getting his hand raised in his last time out.

“I’ve watched the fight back with Jared,” Pimblett said. “I think I won the first two rounds. The only round in my eyes they can give to someone 100 percent is the second for me. The third round, he doesn’t even do nothing. He just pushes me against the cage and the first round is close.”

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On To the Next One. MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alex K. Lee discuss the matches to make after UFC Vegas 71.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Raoni Barcelos (17-4) vs. Miles Johns (13-2); UFC Vegas 75, June 17

Mateusz Rębecki (17-1) vs. Loik Radzhabov (17-4-1); UFC Jacksonville, June 24

Ashlee Evans-Smith (6-5) vs. Ailín Pérez (7-2); UFC Fight Night, July 15

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FINAL THOUGHTS

If Gastelum can make welterweight consistently again, he’s an incredibly welcome addition to the division. There are still new matchups for him at middleweight, but the names at the top are still a lot of guys he’s fought before. Here’s to hoping it all works out. Poor Chris Curtis.

Thanks for reading!

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