Love him or hate him. Overrated or underrated. Real deal or hype job. One thing is a fact about Paddy Pimblett right now: He’s one of the 10 best lightweights in the world. And he ain’t 10.
With the Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway main event falling flat, Pimblett was the unequivocal star of UFC 329. He needed just 52 seconds to choke out the surging Benoit Saint Denis, washing the bitter taste of a loss to Justin Gaethje that kicked off Pimblett’s 2026 campaign—a loss that doesn’t look so bad considering he lasted longer than Ilia Topuria did against Gaethje.
Pimblett silenced plenty of doubters just by cracking the top 15, so I’m curious to see what the #haters have to say about “The Baddy” making an undeniable contender statement. The MMA Fighting was so wowed by Pimblett’s Submission of the Year candidate that he jumped all the way from No. 12 to No. 7 on our charts. Just ahead of him are PFL’s Usman Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway, who has said he’d like to stick around at welterweight (though presumably only for a third fight with McGregor), so if you squint, you can see that Pimblett is actually top 5 if we’re talking just UFC lightweights.
It’s unlikely Pimblett gets another shot at Gaethje next, so he likely needs one more win over an elite 155er to cement his case. Depending how the cards shake out, that could mean a dance with presumptive No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan, “BMF” champion Charles Oliveira, or longtime rival Ilia Topuria.
Regardless of who it turns out to be, is it really wise to bet against Pimblett beating the odds again?
Check out MMA Fighting’s updated lightweight rankings below following UFC 329.
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 5 Max Holloway def. Conor McGregor (welterweight bout), No. 12 Paddy Pimblett def. No. 7 Benoit Saint Denis, No. 14 Rafael Fiziev def. Manuel Torres
Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 6 Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Archie Colgan (PFL New York, July 31), No. 11 Mateusz Gamrot vs. No. 13 Quillan Salkilld (UFC Vegas 120, Aug. 8)
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Beneil Dariush (1), Alfie Davis (1), Tom Nolan (1)
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