{"id":802321,"date":"2026-07-15T18:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802321\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T18:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:22:14","slug":"ufc-champion-justin-gaethje-not-interested-in-paddy-pimblett-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802321\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC champion Justin Gaethje not interested in Paddy Pimblett rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Justin Gaethje is still weighing his options when it comes to his next fight, but don\u2019t expect him to just immediately sign onto a rematch against Paddy Pimblett.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Prior to his stunning performance to dethrone Ilia Topuria at the UFC White House card, Gaethje first had to dispatch Pimblett in an interim title fight back in January. Despite his underdog status, Gaethje put on another classic performance as he battered Pimblett on the feet before ultimately winning a unanimous decision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">But this past weekend at UFC 329, Pimblett stole the show with his lightning quick submission win over Benoit Saint Denis and it put him right back in the title race again. But considering he just beat Pimblett six months ago, Gaethje doesn\u2019t sound all that interested in crossing paths with him again so soon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cDestined for each other to fight again? No,\u201d Gaethje told<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yOFCN-WpGIw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Pat McAfee<\/a> about Pimblett on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That said, Gaethje respects all the kind words that Pimblett said about him during fight week, especially the inspiration he received watching his win over Topuria back in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Pimblett admitted that he was struggling in the immediate aftermath of his loss to Gaethje but witnessing that performance against Topuria really changed his perspective on things. Despite losing, Pimblett managed to go all five rounds with Gaethje in a potential Fight of the Year candidate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Gaethje appreciates that his upset win over Topuria has resonated so loudly with athletes across numerous sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI think it\u2019s crazy what my story has done for so many people,\u201d Gaethje said. \u201cRafael Fiziev, a guy I fought two times, says a very similar thing. I kind of rejuvenated him when I won that fight. Him losing two times to me, having been in there with me two times kind of rejuvenated him. Anthony Joshua, I saw him talking about how you can never forget how real fighting is and how dangerous it is and never becoming too full of yourself. He learned that from that lesson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool across the board, all athletes respect our sport because it\u2019s so humbling, so primal. It\u2019s one on one. It\u2019s freaking awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">As for his own career, Gaethje previously stated that he expects to fight again after potentially contemplating retirement but he\u2019s not likely to return to action until sometime in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Justin Gaethje is still weighing his options when it comes to his next fight, but don\u2019t expect him&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802322,"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-802321","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\/802321","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=802321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}