Paddy Pimblett’s recent spar with rival Denis Frimpong ended with a controversial choke, but “The Baddy” isn’t apologizing for anything.
Footage was recently released of Pimblett and Frimpong settling a beef in a gym spar that ended with Pimblett choking Frimpong unconscious while seemingly ignoring repeated taps from the Irishman. This drew criticism from commenters on social media, so Pimblett has now come out with his side of the story.
“We both agreed, we don’t stop until someone’s unconscious,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “Taps don’t count. Quitting to strikes doesn’t count. We just go until someone’s out cold.”
According to Pimblett, wanted to settle a beef with Frimpong, but their encounter was delayed due to Pimblett being on holiday. With Pimblett away, Frimpong released a video claiming the UFC lightweight contender was afraid to fight him, so Pimblett reissued his challenge as soon as he was available.
Pimblett then claims Frimpong declined due to having an upcoming bout scheduled, but Pimblett spoke to one of Frimpong’s teammates to eventually set up the spar.
“Got up, drove to Manchester Top Team, we were in and out within 15 minutes,” Pimblett said. “Walked in the middle, said, ‘Let’s do this.’ To be honest, I think he gave me the choke. He stuck his neck out to give me the choke because he didn’t want to get flattened out and ground-and-pounded until he was unconscious. I took the choke, and as we all know, if you get choked unconscious, you just wake back up.
“A lot of people saying I’ve got no honor, I’ve got not this, I’ve got no that. I’ve seen Denis say in an interview since, ‘If I would have knocked him unconscious, I would have jumped on him and landed a few more strikes.’ All is fair in love and war.”
As for why Pimblett has such animosity towards Frimpong, it stems from contentious interactions Frimpong had with Pimblett’s teammates.
“He was bullying two of the lads who come to my gym, Jake and George, who are like my little brothers,” Pimblett said. “I train with them every day. I had something against him just for that anyway. As you all know, I don’t like bullies. And then when he fought George in the final of the comp, he was saying mad stuff to George, saying, ‘Your grandma’s going to hell’—well, in hell, because his grandma’s dead. … All that stuff rubbed me up the wrong way.”
Frimpong actually went on to lose to Pimblett’s teammate George Staines, then three fights later he scored a first-round knockout of Dylan Mitchin. The zeal with which Frimpong celebrated rubbed Pimblett’s coach Paul Reed the wrong way, and when he was critical of of Frimpong, that ignited another beef.
“My [strength and conditioning] coach Paul Reed, who’s like my uncle, he commented on it saying this is embarrassing,” Pimblett said. “And Denis put back to him, ‘You stick to S and C, old man. Leave the fighters to fight.’ That was it. I went at him, I couldn’t help it. We kept going back and forth, I ended up saying, come on, let’s get a spar on. Let’s do it.”
All of that is water under the bridge now as far as Pimblett is concerned. He insists that he only ignored Frimpong’s tap-out because of their pre-fight agreement and that there is no ill will between them now. For Frimpong’s part, he already sought to defuse the controversy on social media, telling people to “chill out” with their attacks on Pimblett.
To everyone chatting shit about @PaddyTheBaddy not letting the choke go, chill out. It’s a fucking choke, I didn’t even go unconscious, and it was a straightener scrap. I went in fully expecting that if he caught a choke he was gonna try put me out, don’t chat shit you don’t know
— Denis Frimpong (@menace_mma_94) January 20, 2025
Pimblett agrees that the matter is settled.
“I stood back up and went to the corner and just said, ‘Come ahead, let’s go again from the feet. You said you wanted to strike. Let’s go again from the feet,’” Pimblett said. “And Denis come over and said, ‘No. I’m done. I don’t want to go again.’ And then we shook hands like men.”
“We all know the truth. Me and Denis have shook hands, it’s done. We both agreed to never speak about it again. Simple as. End of.”
