Paddy Pimblett 's UFC London opponent had never left the US before travelling across the Atlantic for the fight.
Jordan Leavitt, who fights Pimblett at The O2 Arena this Saturday, revealed he did not own a passport before receiving the call to fight 'The Baddy'. Born and bred in Las Vegas, Leavitt will compete on enemy territory for the first time in his career and has been warned he could cause a riot in the English capital after promising to 'twerk' on Pimblett if he wins.
The 27-year-old admitted that he couldn't pass up the opportunity to fight Pimblett in London despite being "terrified" of flying, telling Mirror Fighting : "I've never left the country before. I've got my first passport and it's my first time flying more than three hours.
"I'm terrified of flying, so when they asked me about coming to London I said 'no I'm good', but I couldn't say no to this opportunity. I'll see if I can take a few sleeping pills and ride this one out."
Leaked matchups from the UFC's HQ earlier this year revealed that Pimblett was due to fight Ottman Azaitar at the London event. The match-up was never announced as official and Leavitt got the call to fight Pimblett, something that even took him by surprise.
"The UFC were telling me to be ready for October or November because they were already scheduled until August after my last fight," he added. "They called me and were like 'would you like to fight in July?'. I said no. 'Would you like to travel?' I said no. Then they said 'It's Paddy', so I said 'okay, we can travel in July'. I wasn't expecting it but I'm happy and excited about the experience."
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Leavitt holds a respectable record of 10-1 and is widely considered to be Pimblett's toughest UFC challenge to date. Pimblett has won both of his UFC fights with first-round finishes since being signed last September, but Leavitt insists he is not nervous ahead of the fight.
"The only thing that makes me nervous are all the things that aren't the fight," he continued. "The fight I have no stress or anxiety about, but all the other little things are bugging me. I think that's a good spot to be in, confident about the fight and just trying to figure out the logistics of everything else. The weight cut whilst jet-lagged and everything else."
