Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett recently published a podcast episode with Rener Gracie, during which they spoke about all things Jiu-Jitsu related.

One of those topics was Paddy’s love for the Gentle Art:

Jiu-Jitsu has been the first thing that I fell in love with, to be honest. Before I came to MMA, Jiu-Jitsu was the first thing I fell in love with.

I started Jiu-Jitsu when I was around 15 and I was only around 50 kilo… So, I was pretty small and I was always on the bottom. And I got used to being on the bottom and I’ve enjoyed it. And I should say – the number of submissions you can get off the bottom surprise a lot of different people.
[So] it was what got me to fall in love with MMA and it’s probably why I’m where I am now, sitting here and talking to you.

Rener asked what got Paddy into his first Jiu-Jitsu class. “The Baddy” answered:

To be honest, it was watching the UFC… And [after watching several fights] I went into the gym and, as I’ve said, at first I went to the gym thinking that in the future I could end up fighting.

But, I got onto the mat and Jiu-Jitsu… I felt like it just “clicked” with me, I’ve really enjoyed it. And I’ve started doing some tournaments in the UK and I’ve won a couple of them.
And then, a couple of months later, I ended up fighting – and I went 9-0 amateur, thanks to my Jiu-Jitsu.