Paddy PimblettJeff Bottari/Getty Images
How does Paddy Pimblett not have a Wikipedia page? Not since Justin Gaethje has MMA witnessed such an indignity.
The native of Liverpool, England, is new to the UFC, but not to the sport’s championship echelons. Pimblett first drew eyeballs years ago as the featherweight belt holder at Cage Warriors, the well-regarded European show that incubated Conor McGregor, Michael Bisping and a slew of others. The blond-mopped Pimblett quickly gained a following with his nose for the finish and flamboyance around the audiovisual equipment.
This Saturday, in his second UFC contest, Pimblett faces the not-very-distinguished Rodrigo Vargas in his quest for the white whale that is Wikipedia. It happens on the main card of UFC Fight Night 204, going down from O2 Arena in swinging London.
On grand display Saturday is the ever-active world of British MMA. The card features no fewer than 11 fighters who are from and/or based in the United Kingdom. The London crowd will be over the top. The energy will reach Spinal Tap levels. These fighters will badly want to show out for their compatriots.
He’s a work in progress, but if he can string more wins together, Pimblett has the makings of a future MMA celebrity. But who are some other UK denizens to watch at this event? Outstanding play-by-play man John Gooden, who will have the call Saturday, is excluded from consideration but nevertheless deserves a shoutout—mission accomplished.
Here are three UK fighters to keep a close eye on in London.
(Note the event’s early start time for the United States, with prelims set to start at 1 pm Eastern.)
Tom Aspinall (left)Handout/Getty Images
Tom Aspinall
Record: 11-2
Division: Heavyweight
Age: 28
Fighting Out Of: Liverpool, England
Opponent: Alexander Volkov (34-9)
DraftKings Moneyline: -130 (bet $100 to win $76.92)
Tom Aspinall seems like the type of fighter who never stops being overjoyed by the prospect of beating people up for money.
Lucky for him, then, that he’s good at it. Damn good. He might be the best British fighter out there, full stop, and a potential standard-bearer for MMA in the UK.
Aspinall, who faces Volkov in the evening’s main event, is adept at the art of punching people senseless. He hits hard, he hits often and he hits with bad intentions. Nine of his 11 wins are knockouts, and he has yet to go the distance in a 4-0 UFC tenure, three of which were knockouts.
One assumes this can only be aided by his training with a boxer named Tyson Fury.
Aspinall’s non-knockout UFC win doubled as his biggest to date, over the ageless Andrei Arlovski. It was a close contest until the second round, when an Aspinall double-leg led to a rear-naked choke. All in the span of seven seconds.
To reach those numbers, you have to be more than a brute. Aspinall is an impressive athlete. For a guy who goes 6’5″ and 247 pounds, Aspinall is remarkably light on his feet, with stellar hand speed to match.
He overwhelms you with pressure and volume. Aspinall landed 7.19 strikes per minute in those four bouts. You need five fights to qualify for the UFC leaderboard, but if he were eligible today, he’d rank second among active heavyweights. We’ll see where he sits Monday when he’ll be qualified for the leaderboard.
The 6’7″ Volkov is a “tall” order for any heavyweight with an 8-3 record in the UFC. Remember that leaderboard? Volkov ranks third with 5.2 strikes landed per minute.
It’s the main event for a reason. This is a career-defining fight for Aspinall, win or lose. It’s his first time fighting in the UK for the UFC. Fireworks are expected. We’ll see what he delivers.
Paddy Pimblett
Record: 17-3
Division: Lightweight
Age: 27
Fighting Out Of: Liverpool, England
Opponent: Rodrigo Vargas (12-4)
DraftKings Moneyline: -590
Yes, Pimblett is flashy. When was the last time you saw a fighter pass out wigs of his hairstyle at a media event? But there’s plenty of promise behind the style.
In his UFC debut, fighting at lightweight against Luigi Vendramini, Pimblett’s frame was visibly more filled out compared to his rangier featherweight days in Cage Warriors. About halfway through the first, Vendramini reached back and slammed a left hand across Pimblett’s jaw. But his deceptively sturdy chin kept him upright. With Pimblett losing the round, suddenly he landed his own offense. A right hook wobbled Vendramini, and Pimblett blitzed forward with massive lefts and rights. No hesitation or overthinking; he smelled blood, he charged, he got his man.
“I like getting into a firefight, I like a fistfight,” he told UFC.com’s Thomas Gerbasi. “It’s entertaining for people and it’s mad to say, but I enjoy getting punched. It’s not something that I shy away from. I enjoy taking a shot and I enjoy giving a shot.”
His chin is a clear asset, but his striking is not his strong suit.
“The funniest thing about it,” Pimblett told Gerbasi, “is that people think I’m a striker now. And I’m not. I’m far from it.”
Pimblett is primarily a grappler with seven submission wins, even if you wouldn’t know it from that debut. Outside of a single-leg shot that never went anywhere, Pimblett didn’t try hard to ply his ground game against Vendramini. That should change.
There are issues. For one, he’s eminently hittable, often neglecting to keep his chin down and his hands up. Granted, it was one contest, but against Vendramini, he absorbed 5.66 strikes per minute with a 50 percent strike defense rate. Those are not good numbers.
But it’s nothing anyone should have to worry about this weekend. As the moneyline suggests, this is a showcase fight for Pimblett. The UFC knows full well what it has here, and it won’t look the gift horse of Pimblett’s charisma in the mouth. Even if it’s not his strength, Pimblett may seek another firefight for maximum showmanship.
Jack Shore (right)Handout/Getty Images
Jack Shore
Record: 15-0
Division: Bantamweight
Age: 27
Fighting Out Of: Abertillery, Wales
Opponent: Timur Valiev (18-2, 1 NC)
DraftKings Moneyline: -105
This nod could have gone to Arnold Allen or someone else on the main card, but where’s the fun in that?
Instead, we’ll give it to the up-and-coming lad from Wales. Defeating Valiev on Saturday could very well be his one-way ticket out of the prelims.
Shore is a grappler. He times takedowns well and is constantly going for the back, locking in the body triangle, seeking the choke.
But unlike someone like Pimblett, whose skill set tilts toward one area, Shore has a broader array of skills. Chief among them is a lethal jab.
“I know that if you’re sitting on the end of my jab, and you let me find the range, then they won’t get past it,” Shore said at a news conference following his win in September over Liudvik Sholinian. “So it’s definitely one of my top weapons.
“I think in my four fights I’ve shown how well-rounded I am,” he continued. “I’m not just going out there and mauling [opponents]. I’ve had back-and-forth wrestling battles, I’ve had rounds of boxing and kickboxing, so I think I’ve shown I can go anywhere, and I’ve shown I’m the real deal.”
Valiev is his toughest test to date, and it’s not close. Hard as nails, Valiev is a suffocating grappler. To illustrate, in a 15-minute fight with Martin Day, he controlled 11:19 of the action. He’s highly skilled and awfully strong for his size, so there hasn’t been much anyone can do about it.
As dumb as it might seem to bet against any Dagestani Russian fighter based on their incredible, ongoing run of dominance, this is a winnable fight for Shore. He won’t be intimidated on the ground and might even be the better athlete. We’ll see what kind of work that jab can do. Even though he’s a slight underdog (Valiev is -115), Shore seems like an interesting play to bring a W to the UK. If these British fighters and their colleagues have a say, it will be one of many.
Moneyline odds accurate as of Thursday.
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