Paddy Pimblett speaks out about UFC 296 match with Tony Ferguson

Paddy Pimblett is ready for his upcoming fight against Tony Ferguson and anticipates facing criticism, regardless of the fight’s outcome.

Pimblett (20-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is set to battle the skidding Ferguson (25-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) on Dec. 16 at UFC 296 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “El Cucuy” has lost six consecutive fights, four of them by finish. Pimblett is well aware of the online chatter predicting that he’s a winnable fight for Ferguson, but he reiterates that he sees this fight as a lose-lose situation.

“I don’t even know because obviously he’s lost six in a row,” Pimblett said on the “Energized Show.” “But they’re all big names, they’re all very good names apart from Bobby Green. So I don’t know. I really don’t. As I’ve said plenty of times, I see this as a lose-lose fight for me because if I did lose, people will be like, ‘Oh, you got beat by a washed Tony.’”

“And when I win, people are going to be like, ‘Oh, Tony was washed anyway. It doesn’t matter.’ Even though I’m seeing everyone online picking Tony to beat me, I know for a fact, even when I win, I’m not going to get any credit.”

Ferguson has notoriously left his past opponents in a pool of blood during his 12-fight winning streak, and Pimblett hopes they both end up in a barnburner. The close win over Jared Gordon left a bad taste in Pimblett’s mouth, and he looks to erase it with a memorable battle vs. Ferguson.

“I want a war,” Pimblett said. “I want to look like Anthony Pettis after he fought him, and I want him to look worse than Anthony Pettis after he fought him. I want a scrap, lad. I’m going to come in and throw down.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie