Meet Jordan Leavitt – Paddy Pimblett’s next opponent who does the splits after he wins and vows to ‘twerk on’ the British MMA star after knocking him out at UFC London

UFC prospect Jordan Leavitt is planning to make a statement when he leaves his home country for the first time to fight Paddy Pimblett at UFC London this weekend.

The American, who is most known for his slick submission skills and flamboyant post-fight celebrations, is confident of scoring a knockout win against ‘The Baddy’ who prides himself on having a granite chin.

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Leavitt believes the popular Scouser lacks the wrestling skills needed to take him down and will therefore be forced into a stand-up fight that he’ll ultimately lose.

“I think I’m probably gonna win in the third round.” Leavitt told talkSPORT.

“I think my pressure is going to be too much for him and I think I’m not going to be able to break him until the third round and there’s no hope left.

“He comes out fiery. I think If I slow things down and impose my will, I’ll get a third-round finish.”

Leavitt wasn’t a natural athlete growing up but found his way into the sport of MMA and is now 10-1 as a professional and on the verge of the biggest fight of his life.

“I didn’t grow up doing sports at all. I had all sisters and a single mum. I went to High School, and I had to figure out how to socialise at an awkward stage for a lot of people,” he said.

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“I joined the wrestling team, and I was horrible at it. I was not very talented at all at wrestling, so I quit. On the day I quit, I saw the Ultimate Fighter on the television.

“I was like, ‘This is pretty cool, wrestling is hard, but I can do this. So, I fell in love with the sport that way and I started training it recreationally.

"I had a fight at 19 and figured out I was pretty good at it, and I haven’t looked back. Now, I’m just some nerdy dweeb in the UFC, and it's kind of cool."

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Leavitt is four fights into his UFC career and has picked up three wins during his time with MMA’s premier promotion. The Las Vegas native hasn’t received the same push as Pimblett and has had to create his own hype in a unique way.

‘Monkey King’ has become a viral sensation for his post-fight antics.

The 27-year-old has fight fans in hysterics with his celebrations which often include him doing the splits and twerking.

Leavitt says his unique post-fight celebrations began with his friends daring him to do outrageous things but have now become a way he can troll people on a global scale.

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“The split is the only thing that came to me organically. I used to do that as a joke in wrestling. I’d drop into a split before the match to make people laugh and get rid of the anxiety I felt about performing,” he explained. 

“Then I started doing the dirty dancing lift and all these dances because I’d have teammates [say], ‘wouldn’t be funny if somebody did this?’

“At this point, I get to troll people now. It’s really cool when I go into my DM’s and there’s a person sending hate mail.

“I see a hate message from every six months when I fight, it’s really cool to watch that. I was a middle child, so I’m used to annoying my siblings, it’s a throwback.”

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Leavitt says he has something special planned for when he knocks out Pimblett in front of his own fans at UFC London on Saturday night.

“I gotta twerk on him. I said it in an interview as a joke and then I’ve been tagged in hundreds of these posts and memes about it,” he said.

“I have to twerk on him. I have to twerk on the London crowd. I guess that's what I have to do.”

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Pimblett will be desperate to avoid an upset against Leavitt as he’s on the verge of superstardom just two fights into his UFC career.

‘The Baddy’ has recently inked a new UFC deal and an impressive win at The O2 Arena this weekend would push him closer to the stacked lightweight top 15.