That fight with Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett couldn't have been more one-sided than it was. Chandler, who was a dominant Bellator champion for quite some time before exploding onto the UFC scene, has been on a losing streak yet still maintains top-tier status because he always makes a good fight of it and keeps things close in all of his fights. Well, that was until he faced Paddy the Baddie and got made to look like he doesn't even belong on the main stage anymore but a guy ranked 6 places below him in the global rankings.
Despite not being the main event, this was the main event for me and my friends that were there watching the bout. I honestly expected a lot more out of Chandler but they guy, who no doubt is extremely talented, didn't really have any response for Paddy's dominant performance. The significant strike count was extremely in Paddy's favor and when Chandler started resorting to bull-rushing takedown attempts only to have them stuffed and even reversed. It was clear at that point that Paddy was going to win, it was just a question of time.
That moment came in the 3rd round and there was no denying who the better man in the cage was at that point. All detractors of Paddy's greatness would be silenced, right?
Well not so much
Enter Colby Covington, who never saw a camera that he didn't like.
Covington, who for some reason is simply allowed to wander backstage anytime he feels like it even though he isn't on the card, confronted Paddy after the victory calling him a "bum" and stating that all of his undefeated record is against opponents with long losing records. he kind of has a point but at the same time I think it is quite obvious that Covington (who himself is on a 2-fight losing streak) was here to do so self-service.
The clip didn't get nearly as much attention as Covington had hoped I think, but this is largely because the interaction is absurd since the two men aren't even in the same weight division.
Paddy of course responded at the time and also did so in interviews when kind of forced to address it, but he has other thing on his mind rather than a feud with Colby. He wants to head towards the top of the division that he actually fights in and if he strikes while the iron is hot (now) I think that he will be offered a title shot in the next year barring any sort of dramatic change in performance on his part. He is the hottest thing in the lightweight division for the time being, that is for sure.
However, I want to point out that I am not a fan of how there are certain parts of UFC that have been taken over by a WWE sort of mentality. Why was Covington backstage at all and why is he threatening a guy that has nothing to do with his division?
I know why: Colby wants to stay in the picture and will do anything to make that happen. His statements about how Paddy was an undercard at one of his headline fights is in fact true, but times they are a changin'. Colby has kind of exited the title picture at welterweight and with good reason. Not only has he failed to get the belt after being offered a chance to do so twice, but he talked so much trash on his was to underperforming in those fights that people aren't really taking his admittedly good, trash talk very seriously.
He is excellent on the microphone but is quite lacking when it comes to actually backing it up with in-octagon performance. Sadly, this sort of showmanship is often rewarded in UFC though because it does in fact sell tickets.
I would be willing to bet that Colby is setting up, in his mind, some sort of super-fight or BMF nonsense where the two of them meet at catchweight or something like that.
I hope that Paddy and his team are smart enough to not take the bait because it could seriously derail his career if he does. Colby is doing this for himself as he tries to stay in the picture while continually falling in the rankings.
I don't like that we get "microphone points" in the world of fighting, but it is a very real thing for sure. Hell, had Paddy himself not been so excellent on a microphone, or if he didn't speak English fluently, we likely wouldn't even know very much about him let alone be talking about him getting a shot at the lightweight belt.
It is a very large portion of the title picture in UFC, and since it is lucrative for the organization itself, this is very unlikely to ever change