Paddy Pimblett very nearly ended up weighing in as a heavyweight following a junk-food binge after his last fight.
The lightweight prospect has fought as low as featherweight during his career, including being Cage Warriors champion, but is known for ballooning between contests. And after an intense fight camp for his last UFC outing against Rodrigo Vargas, Pimblett went on an international PR tour, during which he put on a huge amount of weight and ate thousands of calories a day.
He has admitted on a number of occasions that he has no interest in maintaining his ripped physique during time spent outside of camp, and is a big fan of fizzy drinks and junk food. But it almost got out of hand when he was in San Diego, tipping the scales at around 205lb, teetering on the minimum for heavyweight fights.
Technically, in a non-title bout, a light-heavyweight would be allowed to weigh 206lb, but any more than that would constitute the heavyweight division, over 50lb more than his last weigh-in in March. He told former heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier about the massive gain on his ESPN show, detailing the biggest size he reached.
"I just enjoy life," he explained to Cormier, who was known for his flabby physique during his career. "I don't want to be ripped all the time. I'm not one of these people 'look at my body, look at my shape'. I don't care what my body looks like. No matter what, I can fight.
"At the end of the day, whether I'm in shape or I'm a fat b******, I can still fight and I can still knock people out or submit people. It doesn't matter what I look like. In some pictures I still have abs but I have a big chubby face, and people can call me all they want, but if it was a woman they'd be called fat-shamers."
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Pimblett has teased a "special message" for critics of his weight gains after he weighs in on Friday night, which he is on course to do relatively easily. He amazed Cormier when he revealed that he was tipping the scales at 205lb, where the American was famously a two-time world champion.
"When I was in San Diego I got up to 205lb," he said, wowing the former champion. "I wouldn't lie to you, I was enjoying that In-n-Out burger, that Popeye's chicken and them slushies. I'm not a big fan of the biscuits, but I'm a big fan of the chicken."
Pimblett will take a considerable step up in UFC competition when he faces Jordan Leavitt at The O2 arena in London this weekend. He is one of the promotion's key attractions, and is expected to have a massive reaction when he makes the walk for the third time in the promotion.
