Yahoo Sports MMA contributor Ben Fowlkes chatted with Paddy Pimblett on his next opponent changing his name, what fatherhood’s been like while Paddy’s been in training camp and adjusting to the time change at UFC 304 to accommodate American audiences.
Video Transcript
Ben, folks here for Yahoo Sports.
I’m with Patty Plett, who will fight the man now known as King at UFC.
Three or four on July 27th in Manchester.
Let’s start there.
What do you make?
Bobby Green has now legally changed his name as he’s been saying he’s gonna do.
He’s now known as King.
What do you think of that?
His name is Bobby.
You’re not going with King?
No.
His name is Bobby.
He was kissing Bobby.
He was born Bobby.
His mother and father call him Bobby.
His name is Bobby.
Well, one thing I was curious about with this fight, you know, it being in Manchester, But still, the UFC.
Likes to maintain those pay per view start times, so that’s gonna be a strange one, Really early in the morning over there.
What are you doing to prepare for that?
Nothing at the minute.
You know what I mean?
I haven’t I haven’t changed anything yet.
I think we might change the schedule a little bit and start getting up at different times and stuff, but I just think it’s ridiculous.
You know what I mean?
What’s the point in coming over to the UK and doing a card in the UK.
But having it on American time, it’s It’s a big advantage for the fighters coming over.
You know what I mean?
Me, Leon, Tom, Molly, Arnold Allen.
With all at a disadvantage to all the fighters coming over.
So are you gonna change like your training time and get so that we get used to, you know, getting in the gym and sparring at what, like four o’clock in the morning?
Uh, well, my last bar and session is going to be on Tuesday.
You know what I mean?
A SP today Last Baron session will be on Tuesday, like 10 days before the fight.
So, no, I’m not gonna go in the gym at 4 a.m.
It’s bad at 4 a.m. but like fight week, I’ll probably change, change our sleeping pattern and get up and hit pads and do some grappling at, like, three in the morning or something, or whatever it is.
But I haven’t changed nothing yet.
And I don’t I don’t think it’ll make that much of a difference cos you’re getting in the cage and fighting.
You know what I mean?
When the adrenaline kicks in.
You’re not gonna be tired anyway.
Yeah, well, speaking of 34 o’clock in the morning, I know your your twins were born not too long ago.
I wanna know how that’s going.
Are you getting any sleep and how you manage that during training camp?
Well, to be honest, I’m I’m sleeping well, Bill.
But when I when I go to sleep, I’m like sleeping beauty.
Love I I’m just out for the count.
Like Laura says it to me some nights.
Did you not wake up when they were both screaming and I’m like, Nah, Was they both screaming?
You know what I mean?
But I’ve said it plenty of times and plenty of interviews, but my wife is a superstar, you know what I mean?
She’s like Superwoman.
Um, it’s like she’s already had seven kids before.
How well she’s doing with these two, You know what I mean?
She’s just took her in the stride.
Uh, a woman’s maternal instincts are unbelievable.
Like she I can’t get I can’t put in the way that well, she’s doing the fact that we’ve had twins, and she’s just making it look easy.
I’ve got I’ve I’ve got a newfound respect for women, To be honest, well, I’ve heard other fighters talk about how to balance, you know, parenthood, especially when they’re babies.
And and everything could be kind of tough.
And how fighters have said, you know, I had to be selfish during training camp and kind of shift that burden onto my partner a little more and felt like it was a little unfair to do so, but that you kind of have to do it.
I mean, did you guys have a conversation about that?
Like, Hey, look, training for this fight, I gotta be focused and I gotta get my rest.
No, exactly that.
That is exactly how it happened, Lord, that she hasn’t asked nothing from you know what I mean?
She knows that fight comes a very, very tough time on.
I need to be 100% in it, You know what I mean?
Everything’s got to be about training and sleeping and stuff like that.
So she she understands that, like she’s been with me since I was 1516.
So, as I say, he he’s been here for the whole time.
She’s been here since I was fighting amateur since I was fighting pro at a low level cage Warriors at the UFC.
She’s been by my side the whole time, so she knows exactly what I’ve got to do.
And she has took up so much of this LA like an unbelievable amount.
Twins Seems especially tough, man.
I mean, I’ve got two daughters, but I got had the luxury of having them be babies separately.
I can’t imagine.
You know, if if you put one down and the other one wakes up or, you know they’re both screaming at the same time, How do you guys manage that?
Oh, yeah, it is.
But a as you’re holding one, the other one’s looking at you like why you’re holding her and not holding me and then start crying.
Um, when they’re both crying at the same time.
It’s hard work like I’ll be honest.
Sometimes she leaves me with them for, like, 20 minutes half an hour, and they’re both screaming.
And I’m just like, what?
What am I meant to do here?
Uh, it is, It’s It’s very difficult, but as I say she’s she’s just took it all in a stride, and she loves being a mother, So she’s absolutely amazing at it.
Oh, Bobby Green King, Uh, as he’s known now, he he made a a point about calling you out.
He seemed like he really wanted that fight.
What do you think?
I mean, you’ve been a a popular choice for a lot of call outs lately.
Uh, what do you make of that?
Like, what do you think he and other fighters are thinking when they really set their sights on you personally, uh, people underestimate me, You know what I mean?
Obviously, people look at, uh, the following I’ve got they look at the amount of followers I’ve got they look at, like, the fame I’ve got, You know what I mean?
And they want to take that for themselves.
You know what I mean?
Um, the hype was people called it, but everyone on the left of me because I had a close fight with Jared Gordon, You know what I mean?
And then obviously, my last fight with Tony people are going on because I didn’t finish him.
Even though only two people on the seventh fight losing streak have finished them.
And yeah, it’s just one of them, Like I think people underestimate me.
People think that I’m not as good as I am.
So it’s nice to prove people wrong and shut people up.
Bobby’s been fantasising about me for years.
To be honest, Bobby’s been video Bo.
Bobby was videoing me on Instagram Live about 2.5 years ago, sitting two rows behind me, videoing me saying stuff about me when all people were in the comments saying, What are you?
What are you sitting there for?
Go and say something to him, then go and say something to him then.
So Bobby’s been having wet dreams about me for 2.5 years.
That Jared Gordon fight especially.
It seemed like coming out of that one.
Maybe people thought like, OK, this guy’s got some deficiency in the striking department.
I can capitalise on that, you know?
And that’s obviously Bobby Green’s specialty.
So what have you done since then?
To I mean, obviously you gotta be aware that that’s what people are thinking.
Do you think that they’re wrong or do you Did you come out of that fight going?
I do need to address some of this.
No, Obviously that fight um was a lot closer than I thought it was.
After it, I went and watched the fight back.
And that was a very close fight that could have went either way.
You know what I mean?
It really could have.
It still does.
It still annoys me a lot that people call it a robbery when it’s far from it.
You know what I mean?
Jared Gordon’s last fight against Nasrat was a robbery.
You know what I mean?
Jared should have won that fight, but, um, I think also Jared is very underrated.
Jared is very underrated.
He’s a spoiler.
Jared was beating Bobby Green up until Bobby Green decided to fly and head butt.
So obviously I know that my grappling is what I’m good at.
I know I’m a better grappler than I am a striker, but every fight camp and every month I’m in the gym training.
My striking gets better every single, every single session.
You know what I mean?
So I’m looking forward to coming out there and keeping Bobby up a little bit on the feet where people think it’s just gonna be a walk in the park for him.
People think I’m gonna be shooting for legs straight away.
When I’m not.
I’m gonna try and take his his head off his shoulders first.
And then if I feel like it, I’ll take them down and I’ll pound them out or I’ll submit them.
But as I say, I want to come out and try and knock them out first.
Well, you know, he likes to talk to people during fights.
He’s He’s kind of constantly going when you encounter something like that.
I mean, what do you do?
Do you Do you talk back to a guy in that situation, or do you just try to focus on hitting him while he’s talking?
Um, I don’t know.
I’ve never I’ve never had someone talking to me in a fight, so we’ll see.
It wouldn’t surprise me if I start talking back, but I’ve never actually experienced that.
I’ve never had it, so we’ll see what happens.
Yeah, well, people make a lot, uh, sometimes of your weight in between camps that, you know, we know you like to eat.
You like to enjoy some some food you can’t have in training camp when you’re in between fights.
Uh, do you Do you think that that’s just people on the Internet having fun?
Do you think that it’s something that you do need to consider so that you don’t have to spend so much of training camp?
Uh, just getting back down to weight or or what?
Um, nah, I’ll do what the fuck I want.
I don’t give a fuck what a gang of throws on the Internet.
I’ve got to say, you know what I mean?
I’m the one that makes weight every single time I get on the scales and make weight every single time.
I haven’t missed weight in the UFC, and I won’t.
Uh, my weight’s in a perfect place at the minute.
I haven’t got to worry about nothing.
Um, you know, haters are going to hate Uh, it’s one of them.
I don’t give a fuck what people on the Internet say, lad.
I see people comment and stuff all the time, lads.
It’s It’s a, um it’s a popular thing at the minute to hate on me.
Like ever since that Jared Gordon fight.
It’s popular like before that fight.
That was the best thing since life spread.
You know what I mean?
I was.
I was great.
Everyone loved me.
And then I have a close decision that three judges decided I won.
Not me.
I didn’t pick the winner.
Three judges decided I won and everyone…
Paddy Pimblett,Ben Fowlkes,fatherhood
