Hot Take Paddy looked AWFUL and completely outclassed

[FrankDux]

Conditioning looked terrible. REAL bad. That's the worst I've ever seen his conditioning look. He looked slow. He still can't learn to keep his chin down. He needs a tennis ball under his chin. His striking was even sloppier than it's normal sloppiness (didn't even think that was even possible). Terrible fight IQ too. When it was apparent he couldn't match his standup, he should've went for more level changes but still chose to stand.

 

[xhaydenx]

His conditioning is fine.

Dude can't strike and his grappling is not high level.

People just talked up his grappling because he used it to dominate washed up cans in a row like Green, Tony, and Chandler lol. He got outgrappled completely by Gordon who is not even a top 15 level fighter.

He's nowhere near an elite fighter in the UFC.

 

[ookii]

Time to sacrifice that Jimmy to the cross while Ralph Fiennes dances to Iron Maiden

 

[BodybagJohnny**]

I'm laughing that Dana's big plan to push this jobber failed

Pimblett is barely top 15.

 

[FrappeDuRocma]

He's garbage, we told you.

 

[MarleyLynx]

His conditioning is fine.

Dude can't strike and his grappling is not high level.

People just talked up his grappling because he used it to dominate washed up cans in a row like Green, Tony, and Chandler lol. He got outgrappled completely by Gordon who is not even a top 15 level fighter.

He's nowhere near an elite fighter in the UFC.

I believe he's good on the floor just doesn't have the capacity to get it there against the elite

 

[MarleyLynx]

I'm laughing that Dana's big plan to push this jobber failed

Pimblett is barely top 15.

I'd say R7 is fair

 

[LeBron]

He already got exposed as a fraud in 2022 when he lost to Jared Gordon but was gifted the robbery. He couldn’t escape this time.

 

[JBJ was here]

On the contrary: that was the best performance of Paddy's career. He showed he's a top-10 fighter for the first time. Barely, but he's closer to a title shot now than he should have been before this fight.

 

[sdpdude9]

He fought a guy that could take advantage of his poor defense and he doesn’t have the wrestling to get guys down. These were the exact reasons why people doubted him and it showed when he fought a guy that wasn’t there to lose. Gaethje fought him as stupidly as possible and still beat him up.

He showed a lot of toughness and heart. Can’t question that. He had moments but he was largely outclassed and beat up.

 

[josh345]

I mean you're kind of right. Justin was in sloppy brawler mode and still arguably got a 10-8 in a few of the rounds. But paddy earned my respect a bit with his chin and heart. First round was close. I thought he won round 3 and maybe 5.

 

[cws80us]

Paddy's tough. I'll give him that. He took a heck of a beating. It was not a technically pleasing fight whatsoever, Tapuria beats either of these guys easily. Glad to see Justin get the win. Will lose to Ilia then retire.

 

[Gamer007]

Are you shocked? He's not an elite fighter in any way.



But damn he is a different kind of tough and crazy. Best chin at LW for sure, the chin is as advertised. But in the end his skills are average and the gameplan & IQ were non existent. took 5 rounds to even clinch, but he's going to be fun to watch because he's not going down quickly to anyone.


That was 37 yo Gaethje who likely had staph also, huge respect because you could see his body failing him but he made it all the way through.

 

[Tapatio]

Paddy is a fun personality, high level gatekeeper. But he aint champ material at all.

 

[TOMFDJYEDH]

Justin cheated 2 eye pokes

5-0 Baddy and newwww

 

[Axe720]

He got hurt bad in R1. I thought it was pretty impressive he went the distance and had his moments.

 

[Dorkman]

If he didn't have that chin, he would have been dusted within 2 rounds. Justin wasn't even fighting smart, was just wading in. And Paddy had no way to deter his advance. His conditioning was fine though. He spent the majority of the fight backing up and was still matching his opponents stamina.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

I'd say offensively Paddy is solid. Can hang with almost anybody in the division Imo. What he lacks is defense and counter punching under pressure. He seems to crumble very fast if he's getting out worked. Jared Gordon situation all over again. Also he abandoned his ground game almost completely. I bet he could've taken a tired Gathje down if he really believed in himself.

And what I saw from Justin is exactly what most people expected. Far, far from his prime. A singular game plan. The dude just slowly plodded forward and threw hilariously slow ass punches that seemed to land.

 

[Portland8242]

Never for the fucking life of me understood the hype of this guy. That defense is some of the worst I've ever seen.

Sherdog idiots once again fell for a hype job plant who's best wins are old men matched up specifically to make him look good.

 

[Rdude92]

Lol what do you expect? Guy's a fake #5 ranked fighter. Hes barely top 10. From the 1st round he looks outclassed