The UFC enters its post-pay-per-view era on Paramount+ with a pair of championships up for grabs: one an anticipated superfight and the other far more unexpected.<\/p>\n
UFC 324 on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas will be headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett \u2014 with undisputed champion Ilia Topuria not involved \u2014 and women\u2019s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison defending her crown for the first time against UFC Hall of Famer and former two-division champion Amanda Nunes, the UFC announced Thursday.<\/p>\n
UFC CEO Dana White revealed the details of the event, to be held at T-Mobile Arena, during a segment at halftime of their new broadcast partner\u2019s CBS-aired NFL game as the Kansas City Chiefs visited the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n
Justin Gaethje will fight Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 for the interim lightweight championship. Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n
\u201cThis card is absolutely stacked \u2014 every fight is a must-see,\u201d White said in a statement released by the UFC announcing the event.<\/p>\n
The creation of an interim title at 155 pounds comes in the wake of Topuria revealing on social media<\/a> Thursday that he dealing with \u201ca difficult moment in my personal life\u201d and would not be available to fight during the first quarter of 2026, adding that he did not wish \u201cto hold up the division.\u201d<\/p>\n Gaethje (26-5, 21 finishes) is a previous interim lightweight champ and BMF titleholder who enters the fight with Pimblett (23-3, 17 finishes), a rising star from Liverpool, England, as the more decorated man vying for UFC interim gold.<\/p>\n The winner would go on to face Topuria for the undisputed championship later in 2026, White said in a statement released by the promotion.<\/p>\n The announcement comes on the heels of No. 1-ranked lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan picking up an impressive victory Saturday in Doha, Qatar, against Dan Hooker in Tsarukyan\u2019s first fight since he was forced out \u2014 citing sciatica as the root cause \u2014 on weigh-in day before a scheduled championship matchup against then-champion Islam Makhachev in January.<\/p>\n Ilia Topuria Getty Images<\/p>\n Gaethje and Pimblett are ranked Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, in the UFC\u2019s own media-driven rankings at 155 pounds.<\/p>\n The Harrison-Nunes fight \u2014 a bout years in the making dating back even to their time as teammates at American Top Team while competing for separate organizations \u2014 comes with significantly more anticipation after the two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo defeated Julianna Pe\u00f1a in June at Prudential Center to reach the top of the mountain at 135 pounds.<\/p>\n Women\u2019s MMA legend Nunes (23-5, 17 finishes), the longtime simultaneous queen of both 135 and 145 pounds who received the UFC\u2019s highest honor with her Hall of Fame induction a few weeks after Harrison became champion, had made known back in April her intentions to return from a two-year retirement from competition.<\/p>\n