Paddy Pimblett has Donovan Desmae firmly fixed in his crosshairs for Cage Warriors 100, but he still wants a rematch with Cage Warriors lightweight champion Soren Bak.
“The Baddy” revealed that he was nursing an injury in his last outing against Bak at Cage Warriors 96 in Liverpool.
The Liverpudlian submission specialist claims that he has learned lessons from the championship showdown with Bak. Although he knew he was injured going into the fight, he felt like he needed to compete on the card to appease his hometown crowd who showed up in droves to see him attempt to snatch his second promotional title.
“I need to start listening to other people and not just keep going into fights,” Pimblett told Peter Carroll on the latest episode of Eurobash.
“I couldn’t wrestle before that fight, I couldn’t lift weights before that fight. The whole camp revolved around making sure my hand was alright and getting me to place where I was able to get in there and fight. If I had pulled out of the show at the [Echo] Arena, the show would’ve went to f*ck without me. I wasn’t pulling out, I just had to get on with it.”
Pimblett explained how training sessions ahead of the title fight were altered due to the injury.
“I was sparring the week before with a splint on underneath my wraps. I just got on with it. People don’t know all the sh*t that goes on, they just think I got in there the best I’ve ever f*cking been. Just imagine what I would’ve done to Soren Bak if I didn’t have a f*cked up wrist and if I had a full, proper fight camp…just imagine,” he said.
“The Baddy” appeared as though he was on the verge of stopping the fight in the first round with a number of rear-naked choke attempts. As far as he is concerned, had he been fully fit, he would have been able to submit Bak with those choke attempts.
“I didn’t have [any] arms from rounds two to five after squeezing those chokes. Another thing I noticed was, it was my right arm that was under his neck and that’s the arm that’s f*cked; that’s the wrist that I cannot put a squeeze on. I was thinking, ‘Sh*t, this wrist is hurting as I squeeze it, what’s going on?” he recalled.
Pimblett is adamant that he wants a rematch with “True Viking” whether he holds the title or not. While Bak is hopeful that his win over Pimblett will secure him a UFC contract, the Next Generation fighter doubts the Dane reaches the UFC’s criteria.
“I think Soren knows we’re going to have a rematch because he’s not going to get signed. He hasn’t got the style to get signed, he hasn’t got the personality to get signed; he’s not going to get signed unless he beats another two or three people.
“Even if he loses the title, I want that rematch,” he added.
While Bak doubts that Jack Grant is title ready, Pimblett believes he fellow U.K. lightweight standout is worthy of the championship showdown.
“I think Jack Grant does deserve that title shot. He’s knocked a few people out in a row on Cage Warriors. He’s just beat Aleksi Mantykivi who has beat Soren Bak. I think he deserves a title shot and hopefully Soren will give it to him, so we’ll see what happens.”
