Paddy Pimblett Costs Punter $1.3 Million After Biggest-Ever Bet on MMA Fight
Paddy Pimblett's first ever UFC defeat proved costly for the person responsible for the biggest ever MMA bet.
On Saturday night, Pimblett stepped into the Octagon for his very first UFC main event - kicking off the Paramount era with a headline bout with Justin Gaethje at UFC 324.
With bookmakers, Pimblett was the -250 favourite for the encounter, which was for the interim UFC Lightweight title.
But for the first time in his UFC career, 'The Baddy' came up short and lost via unanimous decision after a five-round war with Gaethje in Las Vegas.
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Pimblett, who splashed out around $150,000 on 250 tickets, was visibly gutted with the loss and had to go hospital for his facial injuries to be checked.
However, he is still expected to have had his biggest ever payout for the bout - and received an additional $100,000 bonus for 'Fight of the Night' as part of the new structure.
But the outcome resulted in a huge loss for one fan who placed a mammoth bet backing Pimblett.
One punter put on a whopping $1.3 million for Pimblett to take the win and become interim champion. The wager surpassed a $1 million bet placed by a different punter involving Amanda Nunes took on Felicia Spencer in 2020.
The bet was mentioned on Paramount's inaugural UFC broadcast and would have made paid out just more than $1.8 million.
The risk was without reward though and the fan lost out on a figure that might not have been too far behind Pimblett's total earnings from the fight.
Until his loss to Gaethje, Pimblett had not been beaten since a defeat to Soren Bak at Cage Warriors 96 and he was still in good spirits in his post-fight interview in the Octagon.
"I wanted to be walking away with that belt," Pimblett admitted, as per the BBC.
"I know how tough I am and I don't need to prove that to anyone.
"I think 48-47 was a fair scorecard. I won't lie, he hit me with a body shot in the first round and it got me. I thought I was winning the round up to that point.
"You live and you learn. I'm 31, I will be back better."
Topics: Paddy Pimblett, UFC
Josh Lawless