Ricky Hatton issues frank advice to UFC stars Paddy Pimblett and Conor McGregor
WikimediaFormer world boxing champion Ricky Hatton has issued some frank advice to UFC star Paddy Pimblett over his weight fluctuation.
Hatton infamously ballooned up and down in weight between fights, against the advice of his coaches who felt it would catch up on him in the long run.
The ‘Hitman’ still ended his career as a two-weight world champion and was only beaten by boxing hall of famers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in world title fights.
UFC star Pimblett has drawn comparisons to Hatton for his weight fluctuation between fights and he has been warned it may catch up on him, too.
The Liverpool fighter is 5-0 in the UFC since moving to the promotion, though, but Hatton has delivered a warning to the 29-year-old.
“My strength and conditioning coach Kerry Kayes used to say to me that my lifestyle would catch up with me one day; the way I lived my life, ballooning up in weight, three stone here and three stone there,” Hatton told Instant Casino.
“But years would go by and I’d still be performing and Kerry would then say to me ‘what’s going on with you, you’re a freak’. To have 48 fights and 45 wins against the calibre of class that I boxed with, the drinking and lifestyle didn’t help me, but I got away with it.
“Look who I fought and how many fights I had, when I was WBU champion I had one year where I defended it five times.”
Conor McGregor has reached same position I did
Hatton has also passed verdict on Conor McGregor’s future in the fighting game. The Irish UFC legend is slated to make a comeback this year against Mike Chandler, in a fight that has been teased for UFC 300.
The former two-weight UFC world champion has not fought since a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021 and his inactivity and uncertainty surrounding his future mirrors Hatton’s ill-fated return to the boxing ring.
Hatton returned to face Vyacheslav Senchenko after over three years out of the ring and was stopped in the ninth round of his final fight.
And Hatton admits he felt like he had to find out if he still ‘had it’ against the Ukrainian and feels McGregor, 35, has reached the same crossroads in his MMA career.
“I had to find out if I still had it and I found out that I did not have it any more,” Hatton added.
“And then I went into retirement happy then, having found that out, and I hope Conor McGregor gets the same thing, I hope he wins and I hope we see him in plenty more fights because he’s Mr Entertainment isn’t he?
“But if he hasn’t still got it, Conor McGregor will know. Conor will know if he’s still got it or not and he’ll know if he needs to knock it on the head and to keep doing the other things he does.
“I needed to find out if I still had it against Senchenko and I didn’t. And I think Conor’s probably reached the same position in his career that I found myself in ten years back.”
