Paddy Pimblett is hungry to follow in the footsteps of many of the sport’s greatest ever fighters.
As he prepares to take on Justin Gaethje (24-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) for the interim lightweight title in the main event at UFC 324 at T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas this Saturday, Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) says that he would love to join the likes of Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier and Ilia Topuria on the list of fighters who have won UFC titles in two separate weight classes.
“I dream about it, obviously,” Pimblett told TNT Sports. “I’ve always said that when you do this sport, if your dream isn’t to be the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be then you’re in the wrong game, and that’s always been my dream – to be talked about as one of the greats and you can’t really do (that) unless you’re a two-weight champion.”
The most recent addition to the list of double champions is Islam Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 1701 UFC) who dominated Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 to claim the welterweight title after vacating the lightweight strap he had held for more than two-and-a-half years.
Pimblett feels that that achievement sees Makhachev overtake his coach and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC) on the list of all-time greats.
“Islam is higher (up) in the GOAT discussion than Khabib is now because he’s (a) two-weight champion, know what I mean?,” Pimblett stated. “He just is. The only two fighters who aren’t two-weight champions who are up there are ‘Mighty Mouse’ (Demetrious Johnson) and Anderson Silva. That’s about it. And maybe a heavyweight because they can’t do another division.
“Even GSP came back for one fight just to be a double champion. In the long run that is something that I’ve always wanted to do. It would be so much nicer on my body making 170, but I’m light at the minute compared to what I’ve ever been at this stage of camp, everything’s going perfect.”
