Daniel Cormier believes Justin Gaethje was clutch in a big spot at UFC 324.
Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett collided with the interim UFC Lightweight Championship at stake. “The Highlight” and “The Baddy” went the distance. Gaethje earned another interim title after the judges awarded him a unanimous decision for his efforts.
It was an exciting conclusion to UFC’s debut event on Paramount+. Cormier, who was a color commentator for the event, weighed in on Gaethje’s performance in a video posted on his YouTube channel (via MMAJunkie).
“He walked over after the fight and said, ‘I absolutely won, right?’ and I said, ‘You are a sick son of a b*tch,’ because he went ahead like the old Justin Gaethje,” Cormier said. “That guy that was measured when he knocked out Dustin Poirier and beat Rafael Fiziev was long gone.
“It was almost like he understood the assignment: ‘We’re on Paramount. This is a new network. There are going to be new fans. We need to introduce them to what the UFC is.” I think after watching that, everybody that was tuned in are going to be lifelong fans of the UFC because on the special nights, there is not a sport in the world that could compare to the UFC and tonight we had one of those special nights.”
Gaethje has now secured a title unification bout against the main titleholder Ilia Topuria. It isn’t known when Topuria will return from his hiatus, but he did comment following UFC 324. In an X post ripping Pimblett, Topuria also fired a warning shot at Gaethje.
Gaethje is a two-time interim champion, but he has never held undisputed gold under the UFC banner. It’s a feat that Gaethje is looking to achieve before he retires from MMA competition.
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