Paddy Pimblett got a big win on his home turf.
The UFC standout submitted Kazula Vargas in his second UFC appearance at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 204 in London. After a shaky start, Pimblett (18-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) got into his groove and tapped Vargas (12-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) with a rear-naked choke at the 3:49 mark of Round 1.
The bout was part of the UFC Fight Night 204 main card at the O2 in London. It streamed on ESPN+.
Pimblett delivered in style, but first was faced with some adversity. He was caught early by Vargas, and then taken to the canvas. From there, Vargas landed solid ground-and-pound and controlled Pimblett.
The British fighter found his way back to the feet halfway through the round, then hit a sweep that had him in back mount. From there, Pimblett sank in a rear-naked choke and tapped the Mexican fighter.
The fans in the arena broke out in a chant of “Paddy the Baddy.”
With the result, Pimblett successfully followed up on his UFC debut win. The 27-year-old first fought in the octagon this past September with a first-round knockout of Luigi Vendramini. Pimblett has 21 professional fights under his belt. He previously held titles at featherweight and lightweight under the Cage Warriors banner.
Vargas was unable to build momentum from his decision win over Rong Zhu in April 2021. He is 1-3 in his past four UFC fights.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 204 results include:
- Paddy Pimblett def. Kazula Vargas via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:49
- Gunnar Nelson def. Takashi Sato via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
- Molly McCann def. Luana Carolina via knockout (spinning back elbow) – Round 3, 1:52
- Ilia Topuria def. Jai Herbert via knockout (punch) – Round 2, 1:07
- Makwan Amirkhani def. Mike Grundy via technical submission (anaconda choke) – Round 1, 0:57
- Sergei Pavlovich def. Shamil Abdurakhimov via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:03
- Paul Craig def. Nikita Krylov via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:57
- Jack Shore def. Timur Valiev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
- Elise Reed def. Cory McKenna via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
- Muhammad Mokaev def. Cody Durden via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:58
