Paddy Pimblett has made a major admission about Conor McGregor ahead of the MMA superstar’s sensational return to the octagon at UFC 329 against Max Holloway.
Conor McGregor and Max Holloway will be one of the co-main events for UFC’s upcoming pay-per-view event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on 11th July.
The 37-year-old Irishman has been out of action since 2021 after McGregor suffered back-to-back defeats to rival Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 and UFC 257 in 2021.
Paddy Pimblett will be in the other co-main event for UFC 329 next month, with the 31-year-old Liverpool-born fighter facing Benoit Saint Denis in a lightweight fight.
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Paddy Pimblett says that he never expected Conor McGregor to retire after his UFC losses to Dustin Poirier
Conor McGregor had initially defeated Dustin Poirier early in his UFC run after the ‘Notorious’ scored a stunning first-round TKO win at UFC 178 in Las Vegas in 2014.
However, Poirier stunned McGregor in their UFC 257 rematch in 2021 after the 37-year-old American former fighter sealed a second-round TKO victory in Abu Dhabi.
McGregor would fall short in the third and final fight of their trilogy as well after he suffered a devastating leg break in the first round of their UFC 264 clash in 2021.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Paddy Pimblett insisted that there was no doubt in his mind that McGregor would return to the octagon after what happened against Poirier.
“I always thought he was going to come back,” he said.
“I don’t think he’d want to end his career on the loss against Poirier, the way he broke his leg and stuff.
“I don’t think he would want to finish his career on that.”
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Paddy Pimblett would have done the same thing as Conor McGregor after the UFC 264 fight in 2021
A doctor’s stoppage ended McGregor’s ill-fated encounter with former UFC star Poirier in their July 2021 fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Pimblett claimed that he would have taken a page out of the playbook of McGregor and returned to the octagon as well if he were in the Irishman’s shoes.
“He wants to… I wouldn’t want to finish my career on that, so I can understand another fighter not wanting to,” he added.
Pimblett suffered his first defeat in the UFC back in January after he failed to capture the interim UFC lightweight championship against Justin Gaethje at UFC 324.
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