UFC star Paddy Pimblett showed support for Conor McGregor's injury that forced him out of his last fight while lambasting new Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The 29-year-old returns to the UFC Octagon on Saturday, July 27 for his first fight in 2024 when he takes on veteran Bobby 'King' Green, who is coming off a decisive win over Jim Miller in April at UFC 300.
While the Scouser has had a rocky relationship with the Irish icon in the past, he was firmly placed on his side when McGregor pulled out of his long-awaited clash against Michael Chandler last month due to suffering a broken pinky toe.
The 36-year-old faced a ton of backlash due to his withdrawal at UFC 303 but Pimblett - who has a history of fighting with injuries - was in McGregor's corner when speaking exclusively to Mirror Fighting (via AceOdds).
"No, it depends," he answered when asked if he'd fight with a broken toe. "It really does depend. I went into a fight years ago and I got surgery on the 10th of May and then I fought on the 1st of September. When I broke my wrist, I got a big scar there, and I shouldn't have fought. I lost that fight.
"So I'd probably never go into another fight injured, to be honest, because in that fight, I had a tight choke in the first round, but it was this hand underneath, so I couldn't get the strength to put him to sleep. If I had a fully fit strong hand, he goes unconscious. To be honest, I don't know if I'd go into another fight injured again."
The Liverpool fighter is a renowned hater of the Conservative party but he wasn't left completely happy by the newly-appointed Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer who in 2020 admitted his happiness in writing and working for The Sun despite initially stating he wouldn't give interviews to the newspaper during his leadership campaign.
Discussing his disdain for the politician, Pimblett said: "I just wish Jeremy Corbyn was still the Labour leader. I think it's crazy that we've got a Sir, as the Labour leader, and he's a liar. He came to Liverpool and said, 'I'll never associate with The Sun' and all that. And then, about a couple of weeks ago, he did a big thing with The Sun."
While Pimblett described Green, 38, as his "toughest opponent" yet, he was less than complimentary about the American's decision to change his first name to 'King'. "He's an absolute idiot. When I saw it, I was like, wow, CTE is real. He's nearly 40 years of age and he's changed his name. He's a f***ing spaceman. I'm not gonna call him King once, like, he's getting called Bobby all week.
"I've got my videographer's American lad and he looked at the poster, he put it up and was like 'Dude, he's put his f***ing social security number up and everything'. Like, where he put the thing. My mate Blaise was like, 'Anyone could open a bank account in his name there or anything, is he messing?'"
Riding a seven-fight winning streak, an emphatic victory over a wily and experienced Green could see Pimblett crack the top 15 lightweight rankings for the first time in his UFC career.
2024-07-26T07:26:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd