It looks like Paddy Pimblett has really come into his own in the last 2 years. The Scouser came in with a lot of hype into the UFC in 2021, and against certain no-name opponents, he looked really good. But that wasn’t enough to convince MMA fans who wanted to see him go toe-to-toe with the lightweight division’s elite. Despite him being undefeated, his progress has been a bit slow with him fighting twice in the last two years. But now, with his fight against Michael Chandler looming on the horizon at UFC 314, it really looks like this could be Pimblett’s time to shine.

Remember the controversy surrounding Paddy Pimblett’s win over Jared Gordon? That was the first time ‘The Baddy’ fought for all five rounds as he started his UFC career with three finishes in a row. After that fight at UFC 282, Pimblett went the distance for a second time in his run so far in Dana White’s promotion at UFC 296 against an allegedly ‘washed out’ Tony Ferguson, leading the MMA community to believe that he may not be a consistent finisher. Of course, he slept King Green at UFC 304, but Michael Chandler is no walk in the park.

The Liverpudlian’s coach, Paul Rimmer, doesn’t Paddy Pimblett to not finish Chandler this weekend. He wants to see the 30-year-old get back to his finishing ways. After all, 16 of his 22 career wins have come by finishes—be it knockouts or submissions. Rimmer claims that the whole team is counting on Pimblett to finish Michael Chandler and show the fans that they are looking at a future UFC lightweight champion.

“I expect Paddy to finish Michael Chandler. Paddy is a natural finisher. He can finish on the feet, he can finish on the bottom, [and] he can finish on top. Like, that’s what we’re looking for,” Paddy Pimblett’s coach told Inside Fighting. “We’re not here just to show that Paddy can hang at this level. We’re here to show that Paddy’s the future champion of the division.”

Well, the confidence that Paul Rimmer has in his fighter seems to be justified because it’s not just him who expects a finish at UFC 314. Even Paddy Pimblett is eyeing a finish. And guess what? He wants to make an example out of Michael Chandler. Let’s see what the Liverpudlian had to say.

Paddy Pimblett wants to “make it look easy” against Michael Chandler

Paddy Pimblett’s confidence is sky high, which was evident from his smile at Michael Chandler while facing off in the first press conference for UFC 314. That confidence comes from the fact that he’s studied ‘Iron’ Mike pretty well, and after going to his previous fights, ‘The Baddy’ claims to have more than a dozen ways to end the fight in emphatic fashion.

“Every night when I get in bed, lad, I’ve had [thoughts] about fifteen different ways that I’m going to finish Chandler. Just all going through me head, each one of them,” Paddy Pimblett stated during an interview with MainEvent. “Watched a lot of footage on him. We’ve picked all the holes in his game out. We’re going to exploit them, and that’s why I think I’m going to make it look easy.”

Lastly, the 30-year-old rising UFC star ended the interview with a prediction that the fight is going to finish sooner than most people think it will. “I think I can knock him out or submit him. That’s why I think I’ll have finished him within two rounds,” Paddy Pimblett added.

Well, we are less than 48 hours from finding out if Paddy Pimblett can get back the hype he generated when he first came into the UFC with a win over Michael Chandler. Or will ‘Iron’ Mike finally break his duck and register his first win since 2022? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.