Paddy Pimblett expects to receive criticism regardless of the outcome of his fight against Tony Ferguson.

Pimblett (20-3 MMA, 4-0 UFC) meets the skidding Ferguson (25-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) on Dec. 16 at UFC 296 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “El Cucuy” has lost six consecutive fights, four of them by finish. “The Baddy” is aware of the online chatter that he’s a winnable fight for Ferguson but reiterates that he sees this fight as a lose-lose situation.

“I don’t even know because obviously he’s lost six in a row,” Pimblett said on the “Energized Show.” “But they’re all big names, they’re all very good names apart from Bobby Green. So I don’t know. I really don’t. As I’ve said plenty of times, I see this as a lose-lose fight for me because if I did lose, people will be like, ‘Oh, you got beat by a washed Tony.’

“And when I win, people are going to be like, ‘Oh, Tony was washed anyway. It doesn’t matter.’ Even though I’m seeing everyone online picking Tony to beat me, I know for a fact, even when I win, I’m not going to get any credit.”

Ferguson has notoriously left his past opponents in a pool of blood during his 12-fight winning streak, and Pimblett hopes they both end up in a barnburner. The close win over Jared Gordon left a bad taste in Pimblett’s mouth, and he looks to erase it with a memorable battle vs. Ferguson.

“I want a war,” Pimblett said. “I want to look like Anthony Pettis after he fought him, and I want him to look worse than Anthony Pettis after he fought him. I want a scrap, lad. I’m going to come in and throw down.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.