As UFC returns to London, Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann talk wrong-un Tory biscuits, Chattin’ Pony and why there is no one like them in the game
Paddy the Baddy and Meatball Molly are laughing, again, in a place of dark pain. On Kempston Street, in the heart of Liverpool, the Next Generation MMA gym rocks with joyful noise even though it is here that Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann practise their bone-breaking kicks and punches. On the mat, and in the cage upstairs, they are flung to the ground by heavier sparring partners who grapple and half-choke them in a restrained imitation of everything that awaits on Saturday night at a sold-out O2 Arena.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) steams back into London for the first time in three years and the Liverpool fighters threaten to blow the roof off as Pimblett and McCann each take their turn in the cage. Pimblett is being called the next Conor McGregor and he is not shy in promising to “take over the organisation” and become “the UFC’s new cash cow”.
