Paddy Pimblett has been criticised by UFC middleweight Paulo Costa by comparing him to boxing YouTube stars Logan and Jake Paul in a tweet which appears to target the Liverpudlian's weight gain in the wake of his last fight.
Costa tweeted a side-by side image of the brothers and Pimblett, captioned 'Fake fighters vs real fighters' in what appears to be a sarcastic comment aimed at the 27-year-old. The Paul brothers are in fighting shape in their image while Pimblett is eating a burger on one of his well publicised post-fight food binges.
Despite the criticism, Pimblett remains one of the rising stars of the Octagon, winning performance of the night in his first two UFC appearances since joining the roster. Brazilian Costa has previously praised the Paul brothers, having described Jake as his 'hero' and meeting Logan before 'knocking him out' during a sparring session.
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Pimblett has reached 200 lbs since his last fight, which he won at 155 lbs against Kazula Vargas at UFC London, drawing criticism after promising to avoid weight gain after the fight. Logan Paul has previously spoken about a fight with Pimblett, calling out the lightweight star for a potential fight.
Speaking on Ariel Helwani's MMA Hour, Paul said: "I have found out who I would like to fight if I did a UFC match. Paddy the Baddy. They say he is the next Conor McGregor, right? He is super charismatic and entertaining as hell. He is on the come-up and young like me and has a real loud mouth. I like the way he can perform.
"I think I might have him on my podcast and say to him straight up 'I would like to fight you in the UFC'. He could get up to 185lbs and I could get down to 185lbs for a UFC match. It's the only thing I don't know if I would win, he is a good a** fighter and I have never had an MMA fight. If I am doing it obviously I think I am going to win.
"But now I am looking at it and if I do a UFC fight then I have to do it with someone else who can sell tickets. He is still relatively new and he is young and entertaining so I think the fans will eat that s*** up. There is too much going on at the moment but yeah."
