Pimblett pointed to Max Holloway\u2019s knockout of Gaethje<\/a> at UFC 300 in April 2024 as his game plan. Holloway famously pointed to the center of the Octagon in the final seconds and knocked out Gaethje with a clean right hand as time expired.<\/p>\n\u201cThere\u2019s the blueprint there to beat him, Max [Holloway] did it,\u201d Pimblett explained. \u201cEveryone underestimates my striking, everyone thinks I\u2019m just going to come in and I\u2019m going to take him down, I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pimblett enters UFC 324 with a perfect 7-0 record in the UFC since joining in 2021. His most recent win came against Michael Chandler at UFC 314 in April 2025, where he scored a knockout victory.<\/p>\n
The Liverpool native told ESPN he believes the fight won\u2019t last \u201cmore than two minutes\u201d if he gets Gaethje to the ground. However, he stressed his intention to prove his striking ability against one of the division\u2019s most dangerous knockout artists.<\/p>\n
Gaethje has won 20 of his 26 career victories by knockout or technical knockout. The 37-year-old former interim lightweight champion holds a record of 26-5 overall.<\/p>\n
Awkward Style Creates Challenges<\/p>\n
Pimblett believes his unique fighting style will give Gaethje problems in preparation. \u201cI\u2019m not normal. He\u2019s not going to be able to get a sparring partner in that grapples like me or strikes like me because I\u2019m a weirdo,\u201d Pimblett told TNT Sport.<\/p>\n
The British fighter described his approach as unconventional compared to traditional wrestlers. \u201cI don\u2019t wrestle like a normal person. I don\u2019t shoot double legs, single legs and wrestle like a normal person does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Betting odds heavily favor Pimblett entering the fight. According to BetMGM, Pimblett is listed at -238 while Gaethje stands at +190 as the underdog.<\/p>\n
Gaethje most recently defeated Rafael Fiziev by unanimous decision at UFC 313 in March 2025. He previously held the interim lightweight championship in May 2020 and currently ranks as the number four contender in the division.<\/p>\n
UFC 324 marks the first numbered UFC event to air on Paramount+ rather than pay-per-view in over four years. The main card begins at 9 p.m. ET from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Pimblett ranks as the number five contender in the lightweight division. He has finished two UFC opponents by knockout and three by submission across his seven-fight winning streak with the promotion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TLDR Paddy Pimblett promises to knock out Justin Gaethje within the first three rounds at UFC 324 on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-423952","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-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423952","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=423952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}