Paddy Pimblett is looking back on his first UFC defeat with a fresh perspective, especially after witnessing what happened at the White House. Back at UFC 324, ‘The Baddy’ was convincingly defeated by Justin Gaethje to grab the interim lightweight title. Since then, ‘The Highlight’ went on to do the absolute unthinkable at UFC Freedom 250, bludgeoning the previously undefeated Ilia Topuria until his corner threw in the towel at the end of the fourth round.

That massive underdog win didn’t just put the lightweight division on notice; it inspired Pimblett to get another shot against Gaethje, but this time in a fight that hopefully wouldn’t be plagued by fouls.

“Weird to say, but Monday morning watching that, came in more motivated,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “I went five rounds with Gaethje and was pushing the pace to the very end. I didn’t quit.

“I kept coming forward trying to finish the fight. And I think I won 3 and 5, so he beat me 3-2. One of the judges agreed.”

However, Pimblett isn’t letting ‘The Highlight’ entirely off the hook for how their January fight played out. ‘The Baddy’ believes that illegal tactics used by Justin Gaethje drastically disrupted his game plan and changed the outcome of the fight.

“And if a lot of different things didn’t happen in that fight like eye gouges and low blows and then faking low blows, then it would have been a different fight,” he added. “We’ve got to get on with it now. No point crying over spilled milk. I just hope I get to fight again.

“As I say, he’s the undisputed champion now. I went five rounds with the undisputed champion of the world.”

Paddy Pimblett’s complaints about eye pokes carry a little more weight now, given that Justin Gaethje’s championship win against Ilia Topuria was also fraught with controversy. Slow-motion footage from the White House reveals ‘The Highlight’ landing a grazing eye poke on the Spanish-Georgian’s right eye during a heated exchange.

However, ‘El Matador’ chose not to inform the referee or take his allotted five-minute recovery time, a decision that clearly cost him as his depth perception visibly deteriorated over the next few rounds.

Pimblett claims that a similar vision issue is exactly why he didn’t rely on his grappling against ‘The Highlight.’

Fans criticized ‘The Baddy’ for trying to stand and bang with the lightweight champion rather than taking the fight to the mat, but Paddy Pimblett revealed during a recent conversation with Demetrious Johnson that a combination of the eye pokes and a hidden physical limitation completely ruined his wrestling.

“I should have taken him down,” he said. “I wish I did try and take him down sooner. That’s my own fault. I actually found out only a couple of weeks ago that I went into that fight with an injury not knowing because I got an MRI scan a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been nursing that.

“At the time, going into that fight, it was quite bad, so that affected me takedowns going into it.”

The 31-year-old’s much-anticipated return against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 329 next month will give him a chance to wipe the taste of defeat away. However, even if he succeeds in securing a highlight-reel finish against the dangerous Frenchman, Paddy Pimblett recognizes that the lightweight title picture is far too crowded for him to immediately ask for a rematch with Justin Gaethje.

Paddy Pimblett gives an honest verdict on the current state of the lightweight scene

With strong contenders such as Arman Tsarukyan and Charles Oliveira looming, Paddy Pimblett is realistic about his position in the pecking order and expects the division to settle as he starts a new winning streak.

“To be honest, after the weekend, I don’t think it’s a No. 1 contender fight, but I think Arman’s probably still No. 1 contender,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “But Justin said himself that Charles has beaten him before, so he’d like to fight Charles again. Charles could end up getting the title shot.

“Perfect time to make Ilia vs. Arman because Arman’s been calling Ilia out for years. But there’s so many different variables in the lightweight division now, you don’t know. I’d love to beat BSD and get a rematch with Justin, but I can’t really demand that after a one-fight win streak, so we’ll just have to see what happens over the coming weeks.”

While the path to a title rematch remains a bit more complicated than how he would want it to be, Paddy Pimblett is simply concentrating on his business next month and letting the chips fall where they may.

‘The Baddy’ is not making demands out of nowhere; instead, he’s focusing on his next assignment and seeing what happens over the following few weeks.