Paddy Pimblett knows that fighters are always supposed to protect themselves, but he plans to tell the judge to pay attention to Michael Chandler when he crashes in UFC 314.
In the days leading up to Saturday’s joint main event, Pinblett tackled allegations of fraud targeting Chandler from several of his past opponents.
Pimblett believes there are increasing numbers of Chandler looking to gain a competitive advantage by operating outside of the rules, and he hopes the judges will get to work on fight night.
“He’s outside the cage he’s the nicest guy in the world, and when he gets there he’s a dirty asshole, right?” Pimblett said at UFC 314 Media Day. “If you’re not cheating, you always say you’re not trying to do it. I understand what he’s trying to do. He wants to win. That’s the main thing about this game.
“But yeah, I’ll probably mention the ref in the back. If he’s going to grab my gloves (something).
All fighters on the card meet with the referee who oversees the behind-the-scenes match, but the official UFC 314 mission has not yet been revealed. Typically, the referee will provide a warning to the fighters about potential fouls and what they need to do to allow the athlete to continue when a stop appears to be coming.
The fighter also retains the right to ask the Athletic Committee to assign another judge, so when it comes to Pinblett’s fight on Saturday, they hope that Keith Peterson’s name will not be considered an octagonal third party along with him and Chandler.
“I hope it’s not my judgement when Charles punched him around nine times in the back of his head,” Pinblet said, referring to Peterson. “If you say that, I hope we have good references like (Mark) Goddard and (Jason) Herzog.
“What he objected was that he was just as bad as he thrust into his eyes.
Chandler denied that he was intentionally cheating during the fight, but Pinblett has not taken a chance ahead of the match at UFC 314.
He recognizes that Chandler may do anything he needs to win, and Pinblett is ready ahead of the biggest opportunities of his UFC career.
“As I say, Chandler is a really nice Feller outside the octagon,” Pinblett said. “I bumped into him yesterday and chatted with him. But there he’s a very dirty guy.”
As far as interests go in this fight are concerned, Pinblett knows that victory over Chandler is much closer to his ultimate goal of becoming a UFC lightweight champion.
Again, Pinblett expects Chandler to get rid of in an impressive way in tears and then he probably won’t fully praise his performance, but that’s the standard fare for him.
“The goal post is always moved with me,” Pinblett said. “Early the fight everyone says, ‘Chandler is going to knock him out, Paddy isn’t good.’ Then when I beat him, it’s “He’s 2-4 in the UFC, he’s 38, he’s washing.” I’m used to it.