Paddy Pimblett, a British UFC lightweight fighter, officially weighed in at 70 kilos on July 11 to beat Benoit St. Denis. Fifteen days later, the scale read nearly 87 kilos.
It is not the first time. After losing to Justin Gaethje in January for the interim belt, his body came close to 95 kilos, almost double the limit of his division.
Pimblett himself had already anticipated it in 2022, on Steve-O’s podcast: “I think I have a small eating disorder”, he confessed, with nervous laughter.
“I’ve had days of partying. Honestly, I think I’m addicted to food”, he repeated now. Behind the fighter who knocks out opponents in the cage, there is a body fighting another battle, that of control.