Tomorrow night on the main card of UFC London, one of the England’s most popular prospects gets his second fight inside the octagon. The popular Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett (17-3) returns in front of his home fans to take on Rodrigo Vargas (12-4).
Staring with Vargas, this is a big opportunity to derail the UFC’s hyped English prospect. In this fight, Vargas will be looking for his second straight win. After losing his first two UFC fights (one by DQ), he bounced back nicely with a win over Zhu Rong last April.
Vargas is tough, but all eyes are going to be on Paddy Pimblett tomorrow night. After a really solid run in Cage Warriors, Pimblett finally made his UFC debut back in September when he took on Luigi Vendramini.
It wasn’t a flawless performance as Pimblett was touched up a little on the feet. However, he showed he’s game for a good fight. He chased down Vendramini for the TKO finish in the first round. Tomorrow night, he’s looking to put on a dominant performance in his second UFC appearance.
UFC London Prediction
While you didn’t see it in his UFC debut, Paddy Pimblett is very good on the ground. In fact, the ground game is where he’s the most comfortable. Sure, he’s got good pop in his hands, but he’s incredibly slick on the ground.
Rodrigo Vargas is also very good on the ground and is not going to make things easy on Pimblett. Vargas can also hold his own on the feet and he’s never been put out via strikes in his career. In his four losses, he’s only been stopped once by submission.
UFC London is going to be a good test for Paddy Pimblett. There’s an opponent in Rodrigo Vargas that can challenge him on all fronts, and I think that he’s going to pass. Expect the first round to be close, but the second round, we will see Pimblett take over.
A big shot will land from Pimblett that will mix in the grappling. Once grappling is involved, I expect Pimblett to find the neck and secure a choke for the win in front of his countrymen.
Prediction: Paddy Pimblett by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) – Round 2