Paddy Pimblett knows fighters are supposed to protect themselves at all times, but he plans on telling the referee to keep a close eye on Michael Chandler when they clash at UFC 314.
In the days leading up to Saturday’s co-main event, Pimblett addressed cheating accusations aimed at Chandler from several of his past opponents, especially after he hammered Charles Oliveira with shots to the back of the head in their fight this past December while Dustin Poirier has lashed out after the former Bellator champion fish-hooked him during their encounter back in 2022.
Pimblett believes there are more instances where Chandler looked to gain a competitive advantage by operating outside the rules and he hopes the referee does his job on fight night.
“He’s the nicest man in the world he outside the cage and then when he gets in there he’s a dirty bastard, isn’t he?” Pimblett said during UFC 314 media day. “I always say if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying. I understand what he’s trying to do. He wants to win. That’s the main thing when it comes to this game.
“But yeah, I probably will mention to the ref in the back, if he’s going to grab my glove I’m going to say [something]. If he tries to poke me in the eye and stuff like that.”
All fighters on the card meet with the referee overseeing their bout backstage, but official assignments for UFC 314 haven’t been revealed yet. Typically speaking, referees offer the fighters warnings about potential fouls and what they need to see to allow an athlete to continue when it looks there might be a stoppage coming.
Fighters also maintain the right to ask the athletic commission to assign a different referee so when it comes to Pimblett’s fight on Saturday, he hopes he doesn’t see Keith Peterson’s name as the third person in the octagon with him and Chandler.
“That one against Charles when he punched him in the back of the head about nine times or something and I hope that’s not my referee,” Pimblett said referencing Peterson. “Put it that way. I hope we’ve got a good ref like [Marc] Goddard or [Jason] Herzog. I don’t want to have a ref that’s just going to let me get rabbit punched in the back of my head consistently.
“The one he did against [Justin] Gaethje was bad as well when he poked him in the eye and the ref went to stop it and he just punched him in the face as hard as he could.”
While Chandler has denied he ever knowingly cheats during a fight, Pimblett isn’t taking any chances ahead of their matchup at UFC 314.
He recognizes that Chandler might do whatever it takes to win and Pimblett is prepared for anything ahead of the biggest opportunity of his UFC career.
“As I say, Chandler’s a real nice fellah outside the octagon,” Pimblett said. “I bumped into him yesterday and had a chat with him. But in there, he’s a very, very dirty man.”
As far as the stakes go in this fight, Pimblett knows a win over Chandler puts him that much closer to his ultimate goal of becoming UFC lightweight champion.
Then again, Pimblett expects that even if he tears through Chandler and puts him away in impressive fashion, he probably won’t get full credit for his performance, but that’s just become standard fare for him.
“The goal posts always get moved with me,” Pimblett said. “Everyone saying now before the fight ‘Chandler’s going to knock him out, Paddy is not good.’ Then once I beat him, it will be, ‘He’s 2-4 in the UFC, he’s 38, he’s washed.’ I’m used to it. I get on with it now. I just go out there and prove how good I am by winning.”
