UFC legend Chael Sonnen has brandished Paddy Pimblett as 'stupid' after the Liverpudlian fighter played down talks of a fight with Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone.
Former UFC star turned promoter Chael Sonnen claimed Cerrone could be Pimblett's next opponent in an interview last month.
Sonnen had been working on a film with Cerrone at the time and said: "I'm sitting with Cowboy in between doing takes, and Cowboy had told me two days ago ‘I am fighting March fifth'.
"And he says, ‘what do you know about this Pimblam, Paddy, Pavley, Patty, Plimblin?’"
"I said 'you are talking about Paddy the Baddy'. I told Cowboy, that's exactly the kind of fight Dana is looking for - the old dog goes against the new shiny trinket."
Pimblett has since confirmed there is no truth in the rumour and also that he will not appear on the Las Vegas card in March as he's hoping to fight in London later that month.
Pimblett said: "I think that was just Chael having a little go for some clickbait, Chael done a video [mentioning the fight].
"There’s no truth to it. Do you really think the UFC is going to put me on a card the fifth of March in Vegas when they’re doing London on the 19th? It doesn’t make sense. I would still like to fight in London in front of my home crowd."
Now Sonnen has hit back, doubling down on his claim that Cerrone asked him about Pimblett while contacting UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby about the scouser.
Sonnen said: "Is Paddy secretly one stupid son of a bi**h? Paddy woke up and took a handful of stupid pills and goes on Michael Bisping’s show. On Michael’s show, Paddy accuses me of using his name for clickbait.
"Clickbait is something that is done by some scumbag. I don’t do it, I would never do it and I’m also irritated that Paddy thinks his name is big enough that Chael Sonnen would clickbait him. That might sound arrogant but that’s the truth. It pissed me off.
He continued: "Three weeks ago, I was sitting with Cerrone. As I’m having this conversation, Cowboy’s texting Sean Shelby saying does Paddy have an opponent. I asked him, ‘Can I talk about this? He said, ‘Yes.’ So that’s what we did.
"Why the hell aren’t you fighting Cowboy Cerrone? I wasn’t sitting there texting Shelby. Cowboy was. Cowboy said he wanted the fight.
"I was sitting there when Cowboy asked him and all of a sudden you’re blaming me for clickbait. I’m blaming it on you for turning down Cowboy."
