{"id":437905,"date":"2026-01-26T05:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437905\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T05:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:01:11","slug":"sean-shelbys-shoes-whats-next-for-paddy-pimblett-after-ufc-324-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/437905\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Shelby’s Shoes: What’s next for Paddy Pimblett after UFC 324 loss?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paddy Pimblett<\/a> tried mightily to send Justin Gaethje<\/a> packing at UFC 324<\/a>, but instead he’ll be the one sulking after falling short of the interim lightweight title.<\/p>\n

Pimblett (23-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) entered Saturday’s headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the utmost confidence in his ability. He said he was going to knock Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) out and sent him into retirement, but it didn’t play out that way in reality.<\/p>\n

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Gaethje scored two knockdowns, landed three takedowns and connected with 144 significant strikes over the five-round contest, giving him the unanimous decision<\/a>. Pimblett battled for all 25 minutes, connecting with 156 significant strikes of his own, but failing to create the type of damage that his opponent delivered on him.<\/p>\n

Gaethje said post-fight that he hopes the loss is a humbling experience for Pimblett, because the heart and determination is all there. “The Baddy” just needs to further hone in his skills and operate with a little more humility, Gaethje said, and there’s a great chance he reached the top.<\/p>\n

If Pimblett follows that guidance, it could be that he’s able to defeat top talent at 155 pounds in the future, but what comes next?<\/p>\n

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The options are tricky for Pimblett. The timing doesn’t feel right for a grudge match with Arman Tsarukyan<\/a>. Putting him in the Conor McGregor sweepstakes for UFC White House is fun but not something he should be counting on.<\/p>\n

The most realistic fight in play would be a showdown with heated rival Dan Hooker, who fights Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 325 on Saturday in Sydney (Paramount+<\/a>). There were a lot of personal things said recently between Hooker and Pimblett, so it makes sense to have them settle it next.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 324 matchmaker: Who’s next for Paddy Pimblett after loss?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paddy Pimblett tried mightily to send Justin Gaethje packing at UFC 324, but instead he’ll be the one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,8944,785,17498,85,787,9222],"class_list":{"0":"post-437905","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-justin-gaethje","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-paddy-pimblett","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-ufc","16":"tag-unanimous-decision"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437905","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=437905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}