Henry Cejudo is perplexed by the judges’ decision to award the UFC 282 co-main event to Paddy Pimblett.
Pimblett (20-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) defeated Jared Gordon (19-6 MMA, 7-5 UFC) by unanimous decision this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, surprising Gordon and most others.
Gordon, according to Cejudo, is constantly finding a home for his left hand and believes the judges favour him when scoring fights. He used Sean O’Malley’s split decision victory over Petr Yan at UFC 280 as an example.
“I just don’t know what to say about ‘Paddy the Fatty,'” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “A lot of these guys are just delusory, thinking they’re better than they are. He was defeated in that fight. I believe he should rewatch it, or perhaps I should, but I believe the entire world saw that it was one of the worst decisions ever made.
“This is complete robbery. It has absolutely nothing to do with Paddy. It has something to do with the judges… This is not a popularity competition. They started with Sean O’Malley against Petr Yan.”
Pimblett is now 4-0 in the UFC, but Cejudo believes his performance against Gordon shows he isn’t ready for a higher level of competition yet.
“Ilia Topuria would absolutely hurt him,” said Cejudo. “He’d be in a lot of trouble. But I don’t think Paddy wants it, and I don’t think the UFC wants it. Or they might want to do that after seeing that performance. They might simply say, ‘Hey, you know what? We might just invest our money with Ilia Topuria.’
“It’s just a shame the sport has to deal with a guy who isn’t even a high-level fighter and gets a co-main event. It’s as if they’re trying to push someone too far, too soon, or (who) doesn’t have the full capability, the full talent.”
