Patience is not a virtue for Paddy Pimblett, but this weekend’s Polaris 11 grappling bout with UFC lightweight Stevie Ray will be the first time he has competed for a year.
For Pimblett, competing with significant injuries was commonplace. In fact, it became so normal that in his last outing, he decided to go into a bout with a then Cage Warriors lightweight champion Soren Bak—one of the most highly touted talents in Europe—three-and-a-half months after having surgery on his hand.
Due to the polarizing nature of Pimblett, when he revealed the extent of the injury two months later, fans and Bak himself insisted that the Liverpudlian was making excuses for his decision loss.