Paddy vs Chandler UFC 314

Image courtesy: @DerekBrunson on X

Tonight in the Co-Main event of UFC 314 it will be the No. 12 Ranked Lightweight Paddy Pimblett taking on the No. 7 Ranked Michael Chandler. 

This will be Paddy’s first fight since arguably his best performance in UFC where he choked out King Green in the first round with a triangle chock hold. Paddy is on an eight-fight win streak and will look to vault himself into the upper echelon of current UFC Lightweight competitors. He has continued to impress with each fight and camp increasingly he goes through and will truly be put to the test against a very tough opponent in Michael Chandler.

Chandler will be looking to find himself back in the win column as he is currently on a 2 fight loss streak and overall is 1-4 since winning his first fight here in the UFC. Despite a not-so-flashy record, he has had some very memorable moments in a lot of his matches proving how tough of a competitor he is. 

Pimblett will walk in as the favorite and bitter fighter, although Chandler is a scrappy veteran and will put on a show any fight night. Paddy has a 1.5-inch reach advantage as well as more Strikes landed per minute with a 4.94 rate as opposed to Chandler’s 4.49. He also takes advantage when being on the canvas with 3 submission wins over his last 5 and averaging a 2.13 submission as opposed to Chandler’s .64.

With a win tonight, it could put Paddy into Strap talks as he would more than likely be bolted into a top 10 spot in the lightweight rankings, and with his popularity continuing to rise, it’ll be hard to imagine he won’t see a top 5 match up his next go around. 

Meanwhile, on the other end, Chandler will be looking to prove that he still belongs in the UFC  and can outperform the younger guys in the Rankings and still be a contender in the lightweight division. He’s gone the distance in 2 of his last 4 but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he comes out on top this bout if it goes the distance. 

Prediction

The pick for me in this match-up is Paddy the Baddy. Even when not factoring in the hot streak of Pimblett, his ground and submission game is elite, and has significantly upped his striking through each clash here in his 6 UFC fights. The other clear-cut factor to put in is the size advantage that Piblett has over Chandler which he can and will ultimately use on the ground game facing Chandler. The odds are heavily in the corner of Paddy, not to take anything from Chandler but his time to vault up came and it went, and it's now time for the biggest Rising star out of the UK to seize his moment and climb the ranks.

Pimblett : R3 Submission

UFC 314 will be live in Miami with the Main Card starting at 9:00 PM. 

Paddy and Chandler are the co-main and are set for a good and scrappy bout.