As he prepares to step into the Octagon this weekend for the most important fight of his career, Paddy Pimblett has been reminiscing about the time he rejected a contract offer from the UFC.
UK star Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who faces Michael Chandler (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) in the co-main event at UFC 314 this Saturday, fought in the iconic yellow gloves of Cage Warriors for the majority of his professional career before finally signing with the UFC in 2021.
After winning the Cage Warriors featherweight title in 2016, the UFC came calling, but "The Baddy" rejected their advances. The Liverpool native wanted to take some time to mature as a fighter and chose to stay with Cage Warriors instead.
Pimblett revealed that not only did the decision make sense from a developmental perspective, but also from a financial one. The contract offer he received from Cage Warriors far exceeded the one the UFC had extended, and he certainly doesn’t regret his choice to stay with the UK-based promotion.
“When I got offered the first (UFC) contract, I got offered a new Cage Warriors’ deal, and that deal was worth more than the base contract for the UFC – and I’ve done a lot with that money,” Pimblett said during this week during an appearance on the Full Send Podcast. “I saved that money over the years to get a house deposit myself and pay my mum’s mortgage off. I’ve done a few things like that, and that money’s done a lot for me over the years.
"I’m very thankful for Cage Warriors. They set me up for the start of my adult life really, because that’s when I was 21 when I first started to get that wage".
Pimblett finally signed with the UFC five years later, where he remains unbeaten to this day. He has grown stronger with each fight inside the Octagon and has become a household name. However, he revealed that he had to back himself in the early days by accepting a pay cut when signing with the world leader.
“When I first signed with the UFC, I took a pay cut", the 30-eyar old revealed. "The UFC standard deal is ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win). I signed for a pay cut at first. My first two fights were 10/10 and then 12/12, and obviously after I won my second fight we got a new deal, and it went up.”
