Paddy Pimblett is on the mend from shoulder injuries he encountered before his victory at UFC 296 against Tony Ferguson.
This summer, Pimblett is gearing up to take on Renato Moicano, who has recently challenged him.
Pimblett expressed on his YouTube channel his eagerness to fight Moicano. He humorously called out Moicano, saying, “Renato Moicano — ‘Money’ Moicano — you owe me money, mate. I’m coming for you, little sausage.”
Moicano has proposed a fight with Pimblett in his homeland during UFC 301, set to occur on May 4 in Rio de Janeiro. However, Pimblett explained that the timing wouldn’t work for him.
Pimblett mentioned in a discussion that fighting Moicano at UFC 301 as rumored was not feasible. “My child will be about two weeks old. I won’t be ready to fight that soon. I’m looking at June or July,” he stated.
Pimblett shared that his shoulders are still in pain from the injury. Paul Reed, his strength and conditioning coach, revealed Pimblett suffered several labral tears, with one being particularly severe. Consequently, Pimblett has focused mainly on recovery exercises.
Having faced an ankle injury after a contentious win over Jared Gordon at UFC 282, Pimblett is no stranger to taking time off for recovery. He noted that the shoulder injury occurred during training for the Ferguson fight.
Despite going into his last fight with injuries, Pimblett didn’t make excuses and continued his training into the new year. “My shoulders still hurt after a short break, so I got them checked. Turns out, I have a tear in both shoulders. So, I’ve been focusing on a lot of kicking lately,” he shared.
Currently, Pimblett is on a winning streak of four fights. A victory over Moicano could push him into the UFC’s top-15 rankings, where Moicano holds the No. 13 spot.
Moicano last fought at UFC Vegas 85, securing a win against Drew Dober in a challenging match. He then outlined his strategy to lure Pimblett into a fight.
Moicano explained his tactical approach on The MMA Hour, “Instead of just challenging Paddy Pimblett directly, I decided to provoke him subtly. By defeating Drew Dober and suggesting Dober could beat Pimblett, I knew it would get under his skin. It’s all about strategy, like chess, not checkers.”
Pimblett seems to have taken the bait, as indicated by his response to Moicano’s challenge. Below is the complete video blog from Pimblett.