MMA news: Who should UFC star Paddy Pimblett fight next?

UFC lightweight star Paddy Pimblett fought his toughest opponent to date in Michael Chandler at UFC 314 in April and emerged with his reputation unquestionably enhanced.

A lot of fans didn’t know where ‘Paddy the Baddy’ was at going into the bout, because the Englishman had not fought a ranked opponent before and many wondered if he was just a hype job.

Pimblett subsequently proved the doubters wrong by stopping Chandler in the third round, although some have pointed out that the American is not the fighter he once was.

Sports News Blitz writer Jonathon House takes a look at who Pimblett might fight next.

Pimblett vs Chandler

At UFC 314, Pimblett started going for leg kicks early in the fight and landed some good clean shots on his opponent.

Then Chandler managed to take Pimblett down but didn’t have much success with it as the Englishman was able to get back on his feet quickly.

Pimblett ended the first round strong, landing a good head kick and some combinations which shook the American.

By the time the second round started, you could tell that Pimblett had improved his striking from his previous fights.

He continued to get good shots on Chandler while keeping him at range.

Chandler, for his part, was looking to wrestle and took Pimblett down again, but the latter was once again able to reverse the move and actually put Chandler in a submission towards the end of the second round.

Round three started and Pimblett was putting more and more pressure on Chandler, landing some big shots on him and leaving the American bleeding from the face.

Chandler was eventually stopped by Pimblett in round three, tying up a very good performance by the Englishman and proving a lot of people wrong in the process.

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Who’s next for Pimblett?

Pimblett is currently ranked eighth in the UFC lightweight division and talk has turned to who he might fight next.

In that, there are a lot of big names in the division, such as Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveria, Justin Gaethje, and others.

I don't think Pimblett is quite ready for a title shot as I feel like Islam Makhachev’s ground game will be too much for him to deal with.

However, there are a host of top lightweights he could go up against now.

I think the best fight for Pimblett at this point would be Justin Gaethje.

Stylistically, it would be a treat for the fans as both guys are very entertaining fighters to watch, and I hope the UFC makes it happen.

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