Paddy Pimblett‘s distinctive mop top/ket wig hairstyle always complemented his larger-than-life personality, Moreover, it has helped him channel his inner verbose, over-the-top trash-talking Englishman avatar and is responsible for the star he is today. But over the last few fights, ‘The Baddy’ decided to alter his hairstyle and go for braided cornrows whenever he steps inside the Octagon to fight. But why did he decide to do that? Well, it appears that Pimblett’s decision came from a tactical point of view.
The Scouser who claims to be able to avoid knockouts had already mentioned the reason why he changed his hairstyle when he sported a braided look for the first time in his fight with Tony Ferguson at UFC 296. Having sported a longer hairstyle made him look like get was getting seriously hurt whenever an opponent landed a blow on his head. How? Well, that was because of the way Pimblett’s hair moved.
“I’ve done it because I’m sick of getting hit with little punches and left hooks, and people would be, ‘He’s rocked! He’s rocked!’ Like, nah, my hair just moved. I’m not rocked at all,” Paddy Pimblett stated after his UFC 296 win. However, that doesn’t seem to be the only reason why he changed his hairstyle. Popular MMA pundit and commentator Adam Catterall also weighed in on the situation, adding another plot to Pimblett’s tactical decision.
As we all know, there’s quite a problem with the way UFC fighters are judged. When the main event of the first edition of Noche UFC in 2023 saw one of the judges give a 10-8 score to Alexa Grasso in a very close fight, even Dana White and Valentina Shevchenko were triggered by it and rained down with some unpleasant words on the judge, Mike Bell who was responsible for the debacle. To avoid certain issues with the way judges score, Adam Catterall claims Paddy Pimblett felt it was necessary to change his hairstyle.
“The old Paddy ‘The Baddy’ hair, whenever you get touched or not touched, if he’s moving his head, it looks to the judges like he’s getting clipped. So now he’s tied it back to make it look like a lot less… the aesthetics, the optics of the fight,” Adam Catterall stated on interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall‘s ‘Fight Lab’.
But the real question is! Why did Paddy Pimblett choose to have a braided look instead of any other style? Well, the Liverpudlian even gave us the basis of his new hairstyles as well. Here’s what he had to say.
Paddy Pimblett’s video game character had braided cornrows
Everybody loves a little bit of video games, even professional athletes. For soccer players, maybe it’s the EA FC series (a.k.a. the FIFA franchise), and for NFL players, maybe it’s the Madden Franchise. But for UFC fighters, it’s the UFC video game series, developed by EA. Paddy Pimblett liked to spend time playing that game, and whenever he played, he’d create his own fighter who sported the same hairstyle as he does during fight nights – braided cornrows.
“It’s quite funny, because whenever I used to play Fight Night or the UFC game or anything like that, I’d always put cornrows on my character,” Paddy Pimblett also stated this after his UFC 296 victory over Tony Ferguson. Well, ‘The Baddy’ will be sporting his new braided hairstyle again, but it will be interesting to see how he fares in this fight, given that it is a big step up in competition.
Coming back to his fight this weekend, Paddy Pimblett has a huge opportunity to beat the #7 lightweight contender, Michael Chandler, at UFC 314 and possibly insert himself into the top 10. Regardless, let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post Why Did Paddy Pimblett Change His Hairstyle? UFC 314 Star Explains Tactical Reason Behind Move appeared first on EssentiallySports.