{"id":636895,"date":"2026-04-28T20:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636895\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:10:08","slug":"paddy-pimblett-blames-ego-for-loss-to-justin-gaethje-i-wanted-to-knock-him-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636895\/","title":{"rendered":"Paddy Pimblett blames ego for loss to Justin Gaethje: \u2018I wanted to knock him out\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Paddy Pimblett thinks he didn\u2019t fight to the best of his abilities against Justin Gaethje.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In January, Pimblett fought Gaethje for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324, losing a decision in a 25-minute war, where Gaethje battered \u201cThe Baddy\u201d for much of the bout. The loss was Pimblett\u2019s first in the UFC, and after a few months off, the former Cage Warriors champion is back in camp and preparing for his return. And during his latest training camp video on YouTube, Pimblett opined about his loss to Gaethje, blaming himself for the setback.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI had a perfect camp for the last fight, and that never went perfect in the cage, did it?\u201d Pimblett said. \u201cSo, I think getting back to having a little bit of a mad, disruptive fight camp, when I had me best fights. Bobby Green and Michael Chandler, both fight camps weren\u2019t perfect, but everything ended up perfect when I got in the octagon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cSo, hopefully this is the same. I\u2019ve got to show everyone why I deserved to get that title shot. Show everyone that I\u2019m going to be getting another one in the near future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cTo be honest, with the last fight, I think it was a little bit of me ego got in the way. I wanted to knock him out. I wanted to strike with him and show everyone I can strike. I wanted a war. When you\u2019re trying to take him down in the fifth round after he bludgeoned you at the end of the second, it\u2019s quite hard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cBack to Fight IQ. Back to the game plan and not just swinging recklessly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While Pimblett\u2019s opponent and date have yet to be officially announced, \u201cThe Baddy\u201d has said he\u2019s planning to return at UFC 329 on July 11, the International Fight Week card, even teasing that his opponent will be Benoit Saint Denis. Gaethje, meanwhile, is set to unify his title with Ilia Topuria at UFC White House in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Whoever Pimblett does end up fighting, though, his goal remains the same: he wants another crack at the lightweight title, and preferably a shot to right his wrong against Gaejth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThat\u2019s what we want, lad. I hope he beats Ilia so I can fight him again,\u201d Pimblett said. \u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019m hoping for. He\u2019s got a big ask, beating Ilia Topuria.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paddy Pimblett thinks he didn\u2019t fight to the best of his abilities against Justin Gaethje. In January, Pimblett&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-636895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636895","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=636895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}