Paddy Pimblett plans to leave a lasting mark on the career of Justin Gaethje at UFC 324.
“The Baddy” and “The Highlight” square off in Saturday’s main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with an interim lightweight title up for grabs. Much has been made of the dynamics of the matchup, including whether Pimblett’s youth will give him an advantage over a battle-hardened Gaethje, if Gaethje can stifle Pimblett’s grappling and force him into a standup duel, and what direction the fighters will head in after the dust settles.
As much as Gaethje is known for drawing his opponents into life-changing brawls, this time, Pimblett is confident its Gaethje who will wear the scars of their fight.
“He won’t be physically the same after this fight, I will,” Pimblett said at media day on Wednesday. “I’ll be exactly the same. I’m going to put a beatdown on him like he’s never received and I can promise you that. But it was just another fight to me. When a contract with a name on it gets sent to me I sign it. I don’t turn down no fight. I step up and I fight the person whose name is on the contract.
“I thought I was going to fight Justin in October in Abu Dhabi, but I think he turned it down. Now there’s a belt on the line, he’s taking the fight. So it’s nice to actually fight someone that I thought I was going to fight a while back.”
Pimblett has had luck defeating more veteran opponents, including dominant performances against Michael Chandler, King Green, and Tony Ferguson. He finished his past two fights, bludgeoning Chandler en route to a third-round knockout, and becoming the first person in 15 years to defeat Green via submission.
Still, there’s no question Gaethje is the more famous finisher, having racked up bonus after bonus in his 14-fight UFC career. He’s mentioned on multiple occasions that he plans to put the hurt on Pimblett in their fight, to which Pimblett can only laugh.
“I had seen an even funnier one yesterday saying he wants to make me piss my pants,” Pimblett said. “That one made me laugh because he’d done it to someone in his first-ever fight. But that’s our job. We’re in here to hurt each other. We’re not having a pillow fight, we’re having a fight. And I know I’m going to hurt him, I know I am. If he wants to try and hurt me he can, that’s what we’re here for. That’s just the name of the game.”
Pimblett is more than willing to stand with the dangerous Gaethje, but asked for a prediction on how Saturday’s main event will end, Pimblett dipped back into his comfort zone.
“I keep envisioning a KO, but it more likely is probably Paddy by sub, isn’t it?” Pimblett said.
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