Demetrious Johnson sees championship potential in Paddy Pimblett.
Pimblett (22-3 MMA, 6-0 UFC) meets former title challenger Michael Chandler (23-9 MMA, 2-4 UFC) in Saturday's five-round UFC 314 co-headliner (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Kaseya Center in Miami.
While breaking down footage of Pimblett's Cage Warriors days, Johnson was very impressed with his skills. He thinks the persona overshadows his actual ability.
"This is why he's so good," Johnson said on his YouTube channel. "I think one day he will be a champion. If he doesn't become champion, it'll be like one of the guys who were really good and never became champion, like a Urijah Faber or Joseph Benavidez. He does everything right, in this fight, in this time of his career, and when he fought Bobby Green."
In just six UFC fights, Chandler has already engaged in multiple Fight of the Year candidates. Johnson doesn't expect Pimblett to back down from a war.
"Paddy can grapple, he can strike, he can do it all," Johnson said. "I think it's going to be an interesting fight when he takes on Michael Chandler because Michael Chandler is just a big ball of energy that goes from 0-2000(mph), and I know Paddy's going to meet that once he gets rocked."
Johnson acknowledges that Pimblett is prone to getting hit, but complimented his ability to always bring the fight to his opponents.
"Paddy Pimblett's always fought like this," Johnson said. "You guys only see the part where he's talking trash, he's fat (when he's not fighting), and all that stuff, but he's able to create scrambles and come out on top of those scrambles and submit people.
"So if he's fighting Michael Chandler and Michael Chandler hits him two times, pushes him against the cage, takes him down, Pimblett's going to be looking to do some beautiful jiu-jitsu work to try and catch him."
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 314.
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