Paddy Pimblett stands to gain nothing by fighting Tony Ferguson

A lot of pro fighters are weighing in at this fight that will take place at UFC 296 and most are expressing a bit of a sense of "huh?" then Paddy agreed to a fight with Tony Ferguson. I don't understand that ins and outs of UFC contracts so there are likely at least a few things that are out of Pimblett's control but to me and many others, this matchup doesn't make any sense.

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From a career perspective, this matchup doesn't make any sense for Pimblett and Ferguson has everything to gain. While Tony is a big name in the sport, he has lost his last 6 fights, while Paddy is undefeated in the UFC. I have no doubt that Tony is a favorite of Dana White because he has made the bald man a ton of money over the years. If Tony loses, it is suspected that he will retire. A lot of experts are suggesting that he do exactly that because he certainly hasn't done much for his legacy in the past several years.

The real problem with this fight is that even if Pimblett wins in glorious fashion like with, say, a first round KO of the legend, it isn't really going to improve his ranking and people are just going to say "well of course you beat him, you were always meant to!"

I don't know if Ferguson is really interested in remaining part of the UFC game anymore, he shows up and manages to give exciting performances sure, but when you have a "skid" like this virtually nobody ever bounces back from it. Tony hasn't won a fight since 2019 and that was against Donald Cerrone and no disrespect to "Cowboy" but everyone was beating him in those times. Since then he's be KO'd by Gaethe and Chandler as well as submitted by Nate Diaz and Green. His other two losses were rather definitive decisions.

Is Dana White trying to rush T-Ferg back into the spotlight one last time or is he giving Paddy an easy one to keep his status rising? As it stands now neither one of these guys is ranked in the top 15 with Pimblett all the way down at 38th although this is not the official UFC ranking. I think Dana is very smart with this, he didn't get to be as massively wealthy as he is by being a dummy. Pimblett is a real crowd favorite but it is tough to justify him in main events with such a low ranking. I think Ferguson is being used as a prop to justify making this a main card event. Dana is known to use up his old stars if they let him, and I feel that is exactly what is happening with Ferguson now. This doesn't change the fact that Tony actually could defeat Pimblett, MMA is an unpredictable game like that and if that happens, it will difficult for him to push Pimblett into the spotlight again for several years.

So i this an opportunity for Paddy? I don't really think so. He better win, that's all I'm saying. At the moment Paddy is a -380 favorite to win this fight meaning that if you bet $1000 on Pimblett for the win you would get $620.