Despite The Loss to Bak, Paddy Will be Back

Despite The Loss to Bak, Paddy Will be Back

Paddy Pimblett might not agree at this moment in time but the defeat to Soren Bak at Cage Warriors 96 might with the passing of time turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

If Pimblett had defeated Bak, there would have been nowhere left to go in Cage Warriors and a move to the UFC would have been the next move for career advancement.

We learnt much about Pimblett last night the biggest being despite being immensely talented he isn’t yet ready for the UFC.

Molly McCann found out in her UFC debut, also in Liverpool, that if there are wholes in your game you will be found out at the top level. McCann is level headed enough to realise this, and she is committed to improve her ground game and she will return a better fighter as a result.

Pimblett is now in a similar position, he needs to self reflect and honestly accept that despite his promise he isn’t yet ready for the UFC.

You can’t blame someone for going for the finish when it is seemingly there for the taking, but being on the brink of the win ultimately cost Pimblett when Bak refused to tap.

Pimblett was clearly struggling for the rest of the fight, be it from his efforts to finish the fight or a more wider cardio issue or a combination of the two. Whatever the case, be it better energy consumption or improve any stamina woes, lessons need to be learned.

Pimblett looks ill at ease standing especially defensively, much better strikers than Bak would make him pay for his way too high chin. His own strikes looked much improved but his stand up is clearly his big weakness, it’s clearly a work in progress.

We forget Pimblett is only 23 and is still at the start of his journey, the talent is there but there are obvious flaws which need to be eradicated.

Bak while being a more than decent European level fighter I don’t see him having a long run with the UFC when the call inevitably comes. Pimblett in another year’s time will be far more likely to find success in the UFC, time is on his side.

I don’t see Pimblett being happy with just being in the UFC, he wants to be relevant and chasing a belt, at the moment he’s not at that level. But give it another year or so he might be, despite the loss to Bak we should not give up on him just yet.