Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett once got a Premier League soccer player fined £150K over 'murderous' celebrations in the wrong stand
28/08/2024 18:42
Given both his energetic celebrations and die-hard love for his home football (soccer) team of Liverpool FC, it's not particularly surprising that 'The Baddy' once cost a professional player a sweet £150,000 – although we doubt that he'd ever do it again.
Prior to signing with the UFC, Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett was a bonified superstar here in the UK with celebrities and world-renowned professional sports athletes alike already in his DM's, including Premier League goalkeeper, Ben Foster.
How Paddy Pimblett got a Premier League player fined £150K
Hilariously, that link-up with Foster ultimately ended with both Pimblett kicked out of a Premier League game halfway through a match and cost the former England goalkeeper a week's worth of wages to the tune of £150,000 – that's around $190,000.
Breaking down what happened on the latest episode of 'Fozcast – The Ben Foster Podcast', the veteran keeper explained that it all started when he got Pimblett four tickets for a game between his team of Watford and Liverpool.
Unfortunately, Foster was only able to secure the tickets for the 'home' end of Vicarage Road (Watford's stadium), meaning that Pimblett was sat in the middle of an entire tier of hostile supporters… You can see where this is going already, right?
"We were chatting on Instagram; I got him four tickets for the game, and they are Watford tickets at Watford, so he has to sit in amongst the Watford fans," explained Foster, quick to note that he'd already given Pimblett a stern warning before handing over the goods.
"So, I said to Paddy 'I can get you four tickets but mate you have got to keep it on the down low, don’t go putting it on the internet, don’t go causing a fuss, [and] don’t celebrate if Liverpool score."
Co-host of the Fozcast, Tom Ochoa, was in the stands watching that day and saw what unfolded with the MMA superstar: "[Liverpool score a] goal after three minutes, him [Pimblett] and his mates jump up – we are in the family and friends enclosure – goal goes in a couple of minutes later, he jumps up again. Not going mental but jumped up."
According to Ochoa, a stadium security guard reportedly came over to Pimblett and his friends to advise them to leave the stadium quickly, or risk not leaving at all.
"Steward comes over and says, 'We are going to have to ask you to leave, you’ll get murdered if you stay in here doing that'."
As noted by the podcast hosts, Watford isn't particularly well-known for their aggressive atmosphere, nor is it likely that anyone in the stadium would have even been able to go toe-to-toe with the Liverpudlian anyway.
"Paddy then comes out the ground, [he] got kicked out, and goes straight on Instagram: 'Thanks Fozzy lad for the tickets, I love you, but Watford you’re a c*** club' and all this."
Foster, who is considered a 'national treasure' in his own right, couldn't help but break out into a smile as he added that the tickets and subsequent kicking out of Pimblett cost him a week’s wages.
"As soon as the match finishes, we have been pumped 5-0, I then look at my phone and there are a thousand messages —thousands of everything: 'You got tickets for a Liverpool fan, you sorted Paddy Pimblett blah blah blah' – and I’m like 'oh no, oh no’…
"Anyway, I got a week’s fine for that, I got done a week’s wages. Lovely… £150k you owe me, Paddy!"
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Paddy Pimblett's next UFC fight is a 'Round-robin' waiting to be settled
Back to Pimblett's place in the UFC and following his outstanding submission win over King Green in July, there are a whole host of stars who could potentially sign on the dotted line as his next opponent.
In fact, there are so many candidates for The Baddy's next fight that UFC legend Chael Sonnen describes it as a 'Round-robin' with the likes of Renato Moicano and Dan Hooker being the two biggest names in the mix.
"For Paddy to get on the docket with a [Michael] Chandler, with a [Justin] Gaethje or a Charles Oliveira, he needs to get close to them in the rankings, he needs an opportunity. Moicano would provide that, but do you want to know who else would? Dan Hooker.
"Dan Hooker is now #5, if Paddy became #5… That would move him to something very big and all of a sudden there's not much of a way for the Oliveira's or the Chandler's to look any other direction than his."
Who would you like to see Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett fight next in the UFC?
