TNT Sports<\/a> he will go blow for blow with \u201cThe Highlight.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ll keep it on the feet with him,\u201d Pimblett said. \u201cThere\u2019s the blueprint there to beat him, Max done it. Everyone underestimates my striking. Everyone thinks I\u2019m just going to going to come in and I\u2019m going to take him down and I\u2019m not. He had an absolute war with [Michael] Chandler and I pieced Chandler up.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I know MMA math doesn\u2019t work, but you\u2019ll see come Jan. 24, when we have a perfect game plan and we finish him within three.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even given Pimblett\u2019s confidence, it would be surprising to see him dispense with the grappling completely. In recent wins over Michael Chandler, King Green, and Tony Ferguson, Pimblett used his wrestling to neutralize and frustrate his opponents. He also finished Green on the ground, becoming just the third fighter ever to submit the 52-fight veteran.<\/p>\n
Gaethje was a Division-I All-American in his collegiate wrestling days and he\u2019s typically used his elite takedown defense to keep fights on the feet, but Pimblett believes he can take the fight to the mat if he has to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t wrestle like a normal person,\u201d Pimblett said. \u201cI don\u2019t shoot double legs and single legs and wrestle like a normal person does. I do everything differently. I\u2019m not normal, so he\u2019s not going to be able to get a sparring partner that grapples like me or strikes like me because I\u2019m a weirdo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m honest about it, I\u2019m very awkward. You can\u2019t really get a sparring partner in to do me because I\u2019m so awkward, so I\u2019m looking forward to fighting him as I say. He\u2019s a legend. He\u2019s someone I\u2019ve always loved watching, so to get the chance to actually get in the cage and fight with him is unbelievable. I can\u2019t wait to have Justin Gaethje on my r\u00e9sum\u00e9. It\u2019s going to be something that will last forever, part of my legacy. I\u2019m looking forward to it, I just hope he doesn\u2019t retire once I beat him.\u201d<\/p>\n
A win over Gaethje would not only earn Pimblett his first UFC title, it would set him up for a matchup with longtime rival and undisputed champion Ilia Topuria. UFC CEO Dana White has positioned the UFC 324 main event winner for a unification bout, but Pimblett is aware that even if he\u2019s victorious at the promotion\u2019s 2026 kickoff show, there will still be critics of his credentials.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be the same,\u201d Pimblett said. \u201cWhen I beat Chandler, everyone was like, \u2018He\u2019s old. He\u2019s 2-5 in UFC.\u2019 When I beat Justin, it\u2019s going to be, \u2018He\u2019s old, he\u2019s about to retire.\u2019 No matter who I beat. When I beat Ilia, it\u2019ll be, \u2018He was never that good.\u2019 So it doesn\u2019t matter who I beat, the goalposts get moved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paddy Pimblett plans to mix the martial arts at UFC 324 and maybe not in a way most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-410502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}