5 days ago
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Paddy Pimblett is known for being an extremely crafty jiu jitsu guy, and many are picking him to submit Justin Gaethje during their UFC 324 interim title fight in Las Vegas on January 24th. But that top level grappling didn’t save him from getting tapping out during his gym’s annual ‘King of the Mat’ tournament.
Pimblett has been dominating the Next Generation MMA Liverpool tournament for years, and was declared co-winner last year after battling for an hour with black belt and Next Gen coach Matty Holmes. This year he made it all the way to the finals again only to get caught in a calf slicer by another black belt, Aaron Jordan.
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Paddy may not have been at 100% that day … he’s finishing up a hard training camp for a UFC title, and put in a full workout before going for the ‘King of the Mat’ title.
“I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know if I can be arsed tonight,” Pimblett said. “I’ve gotta beat Justin Gaethje up in five weeks. I’ve sparred five rounds today, did pads before it, and did ten threes on boxing pads.”
Footage of the match showed Jordan and Pimblett trading a number of leg lock attacks before Pimblett fell off-balance on top and right into a body lock that allowed Jordan to torque a calf slicer. Pimblett tapped quickly, but still rolled around on the mat for a few moments in pain from the submission.
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“The Baddy” won’t have to worry about leg locks when he steps into the cage against Justin Gaethje. Despite Gaethje’s solid resume as an amateur wrestler, “The Highlight” has landed just one takedown in his UFC career, and we doubt he plans to improve that stat at UFC 324.
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