When Paddy Pimblett sits down to reflect on the legacy he wants to leave behind, winning a UFC lightweight title is only part of the answer. Speaking with Daniel Cormier on The Daniel Cormier Show ahead of his match with Benoit Saint-Denis, the Liverpool-born star made clear that his reputation as a human being matters far more to him than any promotional achievement.
“I want them to remember me as a world champion by the time I’m done,” Pimblett told Cormier. “But I’d like them to remember most that I’m just a nice person and I help people. You don’t want to be looked at like a piece of s**t like Colby Covington. You want to be looked at as a good person, a good father, a good friend, someone that wasn’t at wrong.”
That desire to be remembered well is not just talk. After his win over Jordan Leavitt at UFC London, Pimblett used his microphone time to speak openly about men’s mental health, a moment prompted by the loss of his friend just hours before the weigh-ins.
He went on to establish the Baddy Foundation, through which he channeled funds to James’ Place, a Liverpool-based counseling service for men.
“The amount of people that have spoke to me since, bumped into me or messaged me saying you saved my life,” he said. “I’m like, I never. You saved your own life. I just said something to instigate you to go and get help.”
Pimblett has been candid about his own battles with mental health, describing a period where injury kept him sidelined for over a year and left him in a desperate place. He credited honest conversations with his coaches and his wife, as well as professional counseling, for getting him through.
“Without going and sitting and speaking to her, I don’t know if I’d still be here,” he said of his counselor Jane.
Fatherhood has sharpened his sense of purpose further. He described how becoming a father has added an extra motivation to everything he does in the gym and in competition.
“Waking up every morning and seeing their little smiles and knowing that I’m going to put hard work in to keep putting them smiles on their faces makes every bit of hard work, sweat, pain, tear, blood worth it.”
At the core of it all is a straightforward philosophy that Pimblett has carried long before he became one of the UFC’s most recognizable personalities.
“It’s nice to be nice,” he said. “The only people’s opinions who really matter are the ones who actually care about you and it’ll affect them.”
