{"id":432094,"date":"2026-01-25T10:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432094\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T10:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:18:07","slug":"ilia-topuria-rips-paddy-pimblett-warns-justin-gaethje-after-ufc-324","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432094\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria rips Paddy Pimblett, warns Justin Gaethje after UFC 324"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/fighters\/ilia-topuria\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Ilia Topuria;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Ilia Topuria<\/a> told Paddy Pimblett he fumbled the payday of a lifetime in the immediate aftermath of his <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/events\/ufc-324-gaethje-vs-pimblett\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:UFC 324;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">UFC 324<\/a> loss to <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/fighters\/justin-gaethje\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Justin Gaethje;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Justin Gaethje<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Original plans called for Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) to defend his lightweight title against Pimblett (23-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) on Saturday&#8217;s card in Las Vegas. However, the champ took a hiatus due to a personal issue, setting up and interim title bout between Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) and &#8220;The Baddy&#8221; at T-Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Gaethje <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/ufc-324-results-justin-gaethje-054653468.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:earned a unanimous decision victory;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">earned a unanimous decision victory<\/a> in the Fight of the Night, resulting in Pimblett&#8217;s first loss in the octagon and costing him a title unification grudge match with Topuria.<\/p>\n<p>Topuria reminded Pimblett of that reality post-fight, while also sending a stern warning to Gaethje ahead of their expected showdown (via <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Topuriailia\/status\/2015326882464420110\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">X<\/a>):<\/p>\n<p>Topuria has previously stated he is seeking a return to competition between April and June. UFC CEO Dana White also hinted at a similar timeframe after UFC 324, while Gaethje indicated he wants the unification bout to happen at UFC White House.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/ufc\/2026\/01\/25\/ufc-324-ilia-topuria-rips-paddy-pimblett-warns-justin-gaethje\/88346758007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Ilia Topuria rips Paddy Pimblett, warns Justin Gaethje after UFC 324;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Ilia Topuria rips Paddy Pimblett, warns Justin Gaethje after UFC 324<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria told Paddy Pimblett he fumbled the payday of a lifetime in the immediate aftermath of his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,3262,9577,638,15502,82,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-432094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-ilia-topuria","12":"tag-justin-gaethje","13":"tag-mma","14":"tag-paddy-pimblett","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}