Colby Covington has delivered a ruthless breakdown of Paddy Pimblett’s UFC 324 performance, pointing to what he described as fundamental mistakes under the brightest spotlight of Pimblett’s career. The former interim welterweight champion did not hold back when assessing the bout, framing the result as a reality check rather than a one-off bad night.
Colby Covington has delivered a ruthless breakdown of Paddy Pimblett’s UFC 324 performance, pointing to what he described as fundamental mistakes under the brightest spotlight of Pimblett’s career.
The former interim welterweight champion did not hold back when assessing the bout, framing the result as a reality check rather than a one-off bad night.
Covington’s critique focused less on physical attributes and more on composure, preparation, and the demands of headlining a major UFC event.
Colby Covington dissects Paddy Pimblett’s UFC 324 performance
Speaking to talkSPORT, Covington offered a blunt assessment of what he saw inside the cage.
“I thought that Justin Gaethje looked really bad, but Paddy looked even worse. Pimblett didn’t look very good. He looked sluggish. He didn’t look fast, hands down a lot, just very amateur, rookie mistakes that he made,” Covington said.
He added: “But, you know, he’s never been in a main-event spotlight. This is his first time getting the main event spotlight and all that it requires. It’s a lot, the media week, the weight cutting, the way the media works.”
The comments suggest Covington viewed the performance as a symptom of inexperience at the highest level rather than a simple stylistic mismatch.
He repeatedly returned to the idea that visibility and pressure can expose flaws that remain hidden earlier in a fighter’s rise.
Colby Covington questions how Paddy Pimblett handled the pressure
Covington expanded on that theme by arguing that Pimblett underestimated the demands that come with headlining a major UFC card.
“What you have to do in the lead-up to the fight is just handle a big load. So I think he realised that it’s a lot tougher up there than he thought it was,” Covington continued.
“He was talking a big game, saying he was going to be champion, saying he was going to be this and that, but he’d never been in that spotlight. And he got that spotlight, and he didn’t pass the test, he froze under the pressure,” he concluded.
Covington’s assessment framed UFC 324 as a dividing line between potential and proven ability, with pressure, rather than talent, deciding the outcome.
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Category: General Sports
