The main event may have had an unfortunate ending, but it wasn’t the quickest finish of the night. That honor went to Paddy Pimblett, who needed just 52 seconds to render Benoit Saint Denis unconscious with a Peruvian necktie choke in their co-main event bout.
White was suitably impressed with “The Baddy’s” performance, especially after coming up short against Justin Gaethje in his interim lightweight title fight last time out, and said the Liverpudlian’s star power had reached new levels.
“I don’t know the way you guys [think], but he gained so much respect in that last fight,” he said.
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“My social team was telling me, after that last loss, he gained like two million followers on social media, from that night to the next morning.
“The way he came in tonight felt like he was the world champion, and if you break this fight down, I felt like Saint Denis’ chance to win this fight was to keep it on his feet and strike, and then he shoots right in for a takedown. Very, very crazy, and what a nasty choke he put on him! And it was incredible. Incredible performance, for as short as it was.”