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UFC star Paddy Pimblett received a strong message from fan favorite Justin Gaethje after his latest bout.
This past Saturday, Pimblett marked his return to action against Jared Gordon in the co-main event of UFC 282. Gordon got the better of Pimblett early in the fight, connecting with some heavy left hooks and appeared to be ahead going into the third and final round. However, Pimblett managed to get the nod on the judges’ scorecards after the distance in a razor-thin decision win that many argued could have swung either way.
Following the divisive outcome, Pimblett called for his contest to earn the Fight of the Night honors.
“No, it wasn’t a close fight,” Pimblett said during the post-fight octagon interview. “He just controlled me in the third. I won the first two rounds and coasted in the third. I knew I was two rounds up so I didn’t want to do nothing dangerous and risk losing the fight. I knew for a fact I’d won the first two rounds pretty easily.”
“What did you think people, Fight of the Night or what?” Pimblett added. “Fight of the f**king night! Who’s a hype train? Someone say something.”
Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports, a sponsor of Pimblett, shared a video to his Twitter account of Pimblett making the walk back from the octagon. During the brief exchange, ‘The Baddy’ can be seen asking company president Dana White to hand him the Fight of the Night bonus.
Gaethje Bashed Pimblett for Wanting Fight of the Night Bonus
Gaethje issued a fiery response to Pimblett under Portnoy’s video, bashing his calls for the merit-based performance bonus.
“This makes the barstool guys look really bad,” tweeted Gaethje. “Just bending over for the lad. Fight of the night? Barstool can give him 50k but that performance will never get you a bonus in the octagon.”
Social media sensation turned boxer Jake Paul chimed in with his thoughts on Pimblett’s demands for the extra dough, tweeting: “Equally sad/bad to see a fighter begging for $50K when the guy he’s begging is making hundreds of millions a year from fighters.”
Gaethje Took Issue With the Undeserving Request
The human ‘Highlight’ reel expanded on his issue with Pimblett’s request to the UFC. He explained how handing the bonus to Pimblett would be unfair to the other fighters on the card.
“They’re trying to take money earned out of the pocket of a much more deserving athlete. We fight for this money,” Gaethje wrote.
Gaethje further detailed the potential earnings on the table for each fight.
“Did you know there is usually 4 $50k bonuses up for grabs each fight? It’s not in the contract and the UFC doesn’t have to pay it but they do, to the most deserving fighters for the most part,” he added. “A guy making 15 & 15 or really any amount fights for two reasons. To win and get paid.”
For UFC 282, the middleweight bout between Dricus du Plessis and Darren Till earned the Fight of the Night whereas each fighter who scored a finish received the Performance of the Night bonus, excluding du Plessis due to his FOTN win.
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