Paddy Pimblett he thinks Bobby Green will never be able to fully recover from his controversial loss to Jalin Turner in December, and that will ultimately be to his advantage UFC 304.
Green was the victim of a careless stoppage by referee Kerry Hatley in his UFC on ESPN 52 fight against Turner, in which he received several unnecessary blows while already unconscious. He bounced back a few months later at UFC 300, defeating Jim Miller by unanimous decision to set up the July 27 showdown with Pimblett at the RAC Arena in Manchester, England (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Pimblett (21-3 MMA, 5-0 UFC) vividly remembers watching live as Green (32-15-1 MMA, 13-10-1 UFC) was pummeled by Turner. He disliked the stoppage as much as anyone, and in studying Green before UFC 304, he concluded that the result did irreparable damage to Green’s durability.
“That fight with Jalin, I was sitting in this room (where I’m doing this interview) watching with my teammate Blaze,” Pimblett told MMA Junkie. “We were both like, ‘Stop the fighting, stop the fighting.’ As much as he talked shit about me that fight week, I remember going back to my friend Blaze and saying, ‘I know he talked shit about me, but this is disgusting. How did that referee allow it to continue like this?’
“I think it’s still affecting him because he took a few shots against Jim Miller, who’s not a big puncher, and in the first round he looked a little (wobbly). It looked like Jim hurt him a little, I thought. Jim won the first round against Bobby. So I think he’s a little chinny now. Not even Jalin Turner’s. He was also knocked out by Drew Dober a few months before that. He’s been knocked out a few times, but that Jalin Turner one – his chin is never the same after something like that.”
FULL INTERVIEW
Despite seeing an interesting target on Green’s head, Pimblett, 29, recently made headlines by suggesting a heavy fight at UFC 304.
Green has previously stated that he doesn’t think Pimblett can submit him, and the Brit responded by challenging his opponent to compete with him on the mat. This resulted in fan backlash against Pimblett, who was reluctant to attack Green, but he said this could not be further from the case.
Pimblett isn’t bothered by any of the fan backlash toward him, though, and said that when UFC 304 rolls around, he’ll try to fend off Green in any way he can.
“I just said, ‘You said I can’t finish you – fight me, boy,’” Pimblett said. “I’m not saying I won’t attack with him, because I will. I’m going to leave, I’m going to try to get his head off his fucking shoulders. If he’s saying I can’t submit him and he can fight me – come and do it then. He posted a photo of his brown belt on his story (Instagram). It’s like, fuck, I got my brown belt when I was 21.”
“It’s crazy. But I can’t say anything, boy. Anything I say gets spun around and sounds like I said something else, or people just jump on the hate bandwagon. It’s cool to hate ‘Paddy The Baddy’ at the moment.” ”
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