Oh, for the love of god, this is going to happen, isn’t it? Paddy Pimblett and Sean O’Malley have spent the last week trading grade school barbs in the press and angling for a fight that makes entirely too much sense for the UFC not to book it, and sentence us to months more of this. The pairing of two young fighters the UFC wants to push because of their penchant for providing brash soundbites we are categorically unable to just ignore makes so much sense the UFC would have to be stupid not to book it, meaning there is at least a 75% chance it happens.
Fans expect both fighters, whose action inside the cage would make them so easy to enjoy if that was all we knew about them, to provide a minimum of three detestable sound bites or retweets before fight night. Regardless of the victor of the fight, or how clear the outcome is, the MMA community is also bracing for an additional six months to a year of further sniping in the press from the two fighters as the loser explains why he didn’t really lose and the victor responds in an endless loop. Optimistic fans maintain hope the fight may yet be undone by one of the fighters requesting the UFC raise their pay to account for the inexcusably-high interest in the bout.