Paddy Pimblett was spotted exchanging verbal blows with Colby Covington after his stunning performance at UFC 314.
Pimblett dominated Michael Chandler in the co-main event of UFC 314 on Saturday night, stopping him in the third round and subsequently earning a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
The Liverpool man was then in the middle of conducting a post-fight interview with ESPN backstage at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
All of a sudden, Covington, who is known for his controversial hottakes in the fighting world, approached Pimblett with some strong words.
“Bro, you’re fighting scrubs, guys who are 2-4” Covington said, referring to Chandler while pointing his finger at Pimblett, who edged closer to a UFC title shot with his victory.
Covington was then held back by security as he approached Pimblett, looking like he was about to smack ‘The Baddy’.
“I’ll come and slap you,” Pimblett responded as both men traded further comments that are unclear.
“Zip your shirt up…I’ll punch your face in. What are you on? A three-fight losing streak?” Pimblett added.
Covington was then heard saying: “You’ll get fraud checked so quick,” before Pimblett taunted the American by laughing at him.
“Keep putting your act on!” he added.
After the incident, Pimblett addressed the encounter when speaking to the media.
“Mr irrelevant, trying to stay relevant,” he said.
“The f***ing whopper. He just came over and started chatting s***, because he seen there was a camera.
“Came over and said, ‘You fight scrubs,’ like lad, he said something about Chandler being 2-4 or something.
“Isn’t he 2-4 in his last six? He’s an absolute bum. He’s nearly 40 and trying to stay relevant by talking s*** while there’s a camera there.
“I seen him at Power Slap the other week, walked past him staring at him and he just stared at the floor like the little p**** boy he is.
“When there’s a camera there he tries to say something, but he got terrified. We all absolutely terrorised him. Got told to leg it, tried to keep shouting, got told to button up his shirt.”
Pimblett is now undefeated in nine straight MMA bouts and remains unbeaten in seven UFC fights.
He was ranked 12th in the lightweight rankings ahead of Saturday night, but will now surge above Chandler into the top seven.
‘The Baddy’ called out top lightweight contenders Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier after his impressive victory.
“This is how we win: we gameplan, we use our fight IQ, and we beat m*****f*****s up. [I want] anyone in the top four, top five. I want that world title,” he told Joe Rogan.
All three of those names have a victory over Chandler, who has now lost three UFC fights on the bounce, with just one win in his last six bouts.
Pimblett is a former Cage Warriors champion, having made his UFC debut in September 2021.
He is now likely to challenge for the UFC lightweight title very soon against current champion Islam Makhachev.
