Paddy Pimblett can't believe how stock has risen since Justin Gaethje loss
· Yahoo Sports
Paddy Pimblett is riding high heading into UFC 329.
Pimblett (23-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) meets Benoit Saint Denis (17-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) in Saturday's lightweight co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+). "The Baddy" will look to rebound from his interim lightweight title loss to Justin Gaethje (28-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC), who went on to batter Ilia Topuria and claim undisputed gold at UFC Freedom 250.
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Pimblett believes his unanimous decision loss to Gaethje has aged nicely.
"It's mad, to be honest, because I think – obviously, I won seven fights in a row, and I don't think that my stock went up as much as losing my last fight," Pimblett told UFC Europe. "I beat people like Michael Chandler, Bobby Green, Tony Ferguson, and people are just like, 'Oh.' And then I've got me head punched in for five rounds, and my stock went up. People are saying I lost, but I won. In my eyes, I lost. There's no two ways about it. I lost, but my stock has gone up because I had a five-round war with a legend like Justin Gaethje, but I want that back, you know what I mean? I want to fight him again before he retires.
"It's time to get back in the win column. Benoit moved above me in the rankings for beating Dan Hooker, which I thought was quite silly because Dan Hooker's terrible. He went above me for beating Dan Hooker, so I thought that's the perfect fight. I'm No. 6, he's five. I think I'm better than him everywhere the fight goes. I'll prove that on July 11. Mad being on the same card as Conor McGregor, the biggest name in the sport. It's nice for him to be back. This is probably going to be the most watched UFC of all time. I'm not going to be the star of the show on this one, definitely not. Conor is, but I'll probably be the second star of the show."
McGregor vs. Pimblett next?
Headlining the event is the returning Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who runs things back with Max Holloway (27-9 MMA, 23-9 UFC) in a welterweight bout. Pimblett called McGregor the perfect fight for him next.
"If McGregor wins and I win, I want to fight again before the end of the year," Pimblett continued. "I'll fight him at welterweight in MSG, something like that. We've got to let everything unfold. You don't know what's going to happen. Conor's got to beat Max; I've got to beat BSD. Anything can happen.
"As we know: Fighting sports, one punch, anything can change the whole realm of the game. It can change the butterfly effect. It can change everything for every other opponent."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Paddy Pimblett can't believe how stock has risen since Justin Gaethje loss