UFC 324 is over, and we’ve got a new interim lightweight champion.
Justin Gaethje once again proved the oddsmakers wrong, thumping Paddy Pimblett to claim his second interim title and kick off the UFC’s new Paramount Era. So how did the card go, and how did the start of this new era feel?
Mike Heck, Alexander K. Lee, Damon Martin, and Jed Meshew circled the wagons to discuss.
1. How was the start of the UFC on Paramount era?
Heck: Main card was an oddly structured sandwich — $1.99 per pound cold cuts with $18 bread. Sure, you’ll eat it and finish the whole thing (Silva vs. Namajunas up to O’Malley vs. Song), but the bread was the best part by far (Gaethje vs. Pimblett and Silva vs. Allen).
Martin: Main event paid off huge — the rest of the main card not so much — but get used to a whole lot of commercials because that’s the price you’re going to pay to no longer dish out $79.99 to watch each UFC numbered card. That said, the stream was flawless from start to finish — that’s something I absolutely never said about ESPN.
Meshew: A low-end B. On paper, UFC 324 looked like a card built to draw new viewers in with all-action fights. But in practice, the card was a little dull, the pacing was poor, there were ads all over the place, and a bunch of weird/bad stuff surrounding it. But ultimately, the main event was a banger, and that’s what matters most.
2. What’s your big takeaway from Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett?
Heck: My biggest takeaway, with all due respect, is Ilia Topuria slept comfortably after watching the fight —as sick as it was. Justin Gaethje is an absolute hero, no doubt about it. To see what that man did when everyone counted him out was legendary stuff. Gaethje deserves every flower thrown in his direction.
However, as game as that man is, it certainly was nowhere near his A-stuff, and he is going to have a HORRIBLE night against Ilia Topuria. But that doesn’t matter, because in the end, Gaethje did exactly what he said he would do: He spoiled the UFC’s big plans.
But I’m also going to take this time to talk about Paddy Pimblett.
I’m as stubborn a person you’ll ever see, but I’ll fully admit I was wrong about Pimblett. Not only did I not see a world where he fought for a title, I also didn’t think he’d even be a ranked fighter. This was more about lightweight being the best division in the sport by a mile, and less about Pimblett, but he’s overachieved in a big way. As someone who gave Gaethje a much better chance than most, I was so fascinated by the matchmaking, but I also said on multiple occasions that whoever won the first round would win the fight because we would learn everything we’d need to. What we learned is Pimblett’s game plan was horrible, but he still fought his ass off, took a hellacious beating, got his face rearranged, and still kept coming after Gaethje. The fact that Pimblett kept his word is admirable, but trying to out-dog Cujo out of the gate was such a massive tactical error.
Despite that, Pimblett should be given his due for getting to this spot. He didn’t choose his opposition, and when the going got tough, he didn’t shy away from it. I think we’ve reached the ceiling on Pimblett. He probably won’t win a title at this point because there are at least four or five guys in this division I would confidently pick to beat him. But “The Paddy” might be one of those fighters where rankings and titles don’t matter at all. Good for you, Paddy. Accountability hand up to the sky.
Lee: Paddy Pimblett is a legitimate championship contender.
I understand mileage may vary when it comes to the technical quality of the fight (Josh Barnett, it wasn’t that bad!), but I thought it was pretty damn fun and definitely feel like Pimblett proved a lot of people wrong in his first UFC title opportunity. Could he have fought smarter? Sure. Was it a good look slipping and sliding all over the place? Probably not, but he wasn’t the only one. Did he take dozens of punches from one of the hardest hitters ever and live to tell about it? Heck yeah!
Even at 31, I still believe Pimblett has room to grow, and if he can round off his rough edges ever so slightly, close losses like this against elite competition are going to turn into Ws. This isn’t the last time he fights for a title.
Martin: Perhaps taking a fast track to the title isn’t always a great idea.
Pimblett came storming into the UFC with a brash British attitude, a ton of blonde-mop wearing swagger, and the kind of charisma that guaranteed he’d be headlining events sooner than later. His road to an interim title was not exactly fraught with top-notch competition — instead, Pimblett took out a few opponents he was supposed to style on and then looked good against an aging King Green and savagely finished Michael Chandler, who hasn’t won a fight in the UFC since 2022 when he beat Tony Ferguson.
But the hype appeared justified, and Pimblett entered his fight against Gaethje as an overwhelming favorite. On paper, Pimblett seemed like a good pick. He was younger, bigger, on a better win streak, and Gaethje — for all the incredible fights he’s had over the years — is on the wrong side of 35 with a lifetime of damage that has to eventually catch up to him.
Well, it didn’t catch up to him on Saturday night!
Gaethje battered Pimblett badly from one side of the octagon to the other. Even when Pimblett landed some of his biggest and best shots, he just couldn’t seem to hurt Gaethje, who just kept coming forward on him without fear of reprisal. Simply put, Pimblett looked out of his depth and not quite ready for somebody at Gaethje’s level. Maybe this is the wakeup call Pimblett needed, and he’ll come back down to Earth a little bit after this loss before slowly working his way back up the ranks again.
Meshew: Justin Gaethje is doomed to be one of the most underrated fighters of all time.
Gaethje is the most exciting fighter ever. At this point, most people don’t even argue that point anymore. But because people think of him as this insane action-fighter, I think everyone underestimates how truly great a fighter he is. This is a fighter who has done everything there is to do in MMA besides win an undisputed title. He was champion in another organization, he’s a two-time interim champion (first in UFC history), a former “BMF” champion, 15 Performance bonuses, and more. On Saturday, Gaethje became the oldest champion in UFC lightweight history and moved to 8-3 as a betting underdog.
That’s not just a Hall of Fame career, that’s a GREAT career. That’s the career of a fighter who has continued to develop, change, and improve over the years. Which is all the more impressive given he is an action-fighter. Guys like Gaethje traditionally age poorly, but here he is, pushing 40, and still doing the thing against young, hungry fighters, years after he should’ve been out of here.
We’re lucky to have lived through the Justin Gaethje era.
3. Did Sean O’Malley do enough against Song Yadong to earn a title shot?
Heck: In a just and meritocratic world, absolutely not. Will the UFC try and make that fight? For sure, they will, and it’s ridiculous for a few reasons.
For starters, O’Malley was coming off back-to-back losses to Merab Dvalishvili in fights that ranged from one-way traffic to not all that competitive. The UFC gave O’Malley about as good a stylistic matchup as they could have against a talented guy that the fan base has a lot of respect for, and while I scored the fight for O’Malley — while many others did not — this was certainly not a no-brainer, Dana White actually makes the fight on fight night type situation.
If Kamaru Usman getting a title shot is egregious, so is this one — in fact, this might be worse. But O’Malley will have fans, and quite a few of them, who will want to see “Sugar” in this title fight, and he holds a win over the champion. But I want to be crystal clear, I think O’Malley getting a title shot right now, especially over a ready-to-fight Merab Dvalishvili, is the opposite of sport.
Lee: I mean, all he had to do was show up, pretty much.
As long as O’Malley didn’t slip and fall on the proverbial banana peel, he just needed to see his hand raised and that’s exactly what happened. It was far from O’Malley’s most electrifying performance, but after a pair of discouraging losses to Merab Dvalishvili, the only thing that mattered was winning and then saying the right things at the post-fight press conference.
Mission accomplished. The ball is in the UFC and Petr Yan’s court now.
Martin: Based on that performance? Hell no. But is there a chance he jumps the line and gets Petr Yan next anyway? Hell yes.
The reality is, rankings don’t matter whatsoever when it comes to UFC matchmaking, so all Sean O’Malley had to do was win and he’d be in title fight consideration. Not only does O’Malley have a win over Yan — albeit a somewhat controversial decision depending on who you talk to — but he’s still the biggest star at 135 pounds. Like it or not, that matters, and with the UFC White House card coming up in June, you’d better come to terms with the fact that O’Malley vs. Yan is a sellable title fight for that kind of event.
O’Malley didn’t look bad against Song, but he didn’t exactly put on a dazzling performance either. Maybe that’s because he just wanted to ensure he got the win after back-to-back losses, but nothing in that fight proved O’Malley is ready for another shot at gold. But much like the days when Conor McGregor was still active, he was only ever one win away from another title shot.
Now O’Malley has nowhere near the superstar status compared to McGregor, but he’s got a little bit of that same shine, which is why you should just start thinking about that rematch with Yan now, before you can even utter the words Merab Dvalishvili deserves it more.
Meshew: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but no. No, he did not.
Heading into Saturday, O’Malley was being obviously set up for an opportunity to rematch Petr Yan; all he had to do was beat Song Yadong. And while O’Malley did do that, he managed to do it in a way that sucked all the wind out of those particular sails.
It would have always been ludicrous to give O’Malley a title shot over Dvalishvili, but at least if he dummied Song, maybe you could sell it. Now? If I had to guess, I’d say he and Umar Nurmagomedov are going to fight a true title eliminator, the 2026 off-brand version of Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov.
4. Who stole the show at UFC 324?
Heck: As usual, going non-chalk for these last two questions — which is why the correct answer is Nikita Krylov.
If I told you heading into UFC 324 that Krylov was 33, a lot of you wouldn’t have believed me. If I also told you that he would dominate, outclass, batter, and then finish a surging Modestas Bukauskas in the third round on top of that, a percentage of the fan base would’ve likely called for my job. But that’s what happened on Saturday.
Krylov was in no-doubt, must-win territory, and the UFC matchmaking squad probably discussed this fight as a, ‘Hey, let’s try to get this Bukauskas guy over and into the rankings’ type deal. But shout out to Krylov, who had one of the best performances of his career — gigantic back tattoo, extra chest hairs, and all.
Lee: Ateba Gautier, someday we’ll all look back at this as a valuable lesson learned.
Notching 15 minutes of cage time might not be as sexy — nor as lucrative — as straight blasting fools in the opening round, but if Gautier is serious about becoming a champion someday, then these are the kinds of fights you have to win. Andrey Pulyaev played the part of a club boxer to a tee, and someday, when Gautier is having gold wrapped around his waist by Dana White, I hope he appreciates the fight Pulyaev brought to him.
Gautier is an incredible talent, and there were moments against Pulyaev where he probably could have pushed for a finish, which is a reminder that even he doesn’t realize how good he is yet. His team probably can’t wait to dig into the tape to figure out how to further unleash this beast.
Also, tip of the cap to Blink-182 for apparently being the official soundtrack of UFC 324.
I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE GIRL AT THE ROCK SHOW
Martin: This might be the easiest question of all to answer because Justin Gaethje was one loss away from retirement, and now he’s a winner and the first-ever two-time interim UFC champion.
Now that’s a bit of a dubious honor, but it still matters that Gaethje was able to turn back the clock and dispatch a rising star like Pimblett, who seemed destined to win heading into UFC 324. Instead, Gaethje decided to ditch all those pesky tactics he used in so many of his recent wins and instead just went balls to the wall and came after Pimblett with the same kind of reckless abandon he used throughout his World Series of Fighting career and then again when he first got to the UFC.
Gaethje was swinging from the hips and attacking Pimblett as if he didn’t view him as any kind of real threat. Once Gaethje tasted his power, he had to know that Pimblett probably couldn’t put him out, and so he just ducked his head and swung for the fences. It’s safe to assume his head coach, Trevor Wittman, was probably gasping for air throughout the fight, but Gaethje delivered a classic Gaethje performance to beat Pimblett and claim the interim title. He’s still very much “The Highlight,” and Gaethje proved that again at UFC 324.
Meshew: Jean Silva used another fighter as a surfboard.
I said after Silva lost to Diego Lopes that the loss would be good for him, and he might tone down his outrageous in-cage behaviour, and that was true against Arnold Allen, which was a big part in why Silva tuned Allen up. Of course, then he took a victory vault of Allen’s back at the end, so I guess he didn’t calm down that much.
5. Who was the biggest loser at UFC 324?
Heck: I’m doing something I don’t think I’ve done here, I’m picking a guy who won his fight: Umar Nurmagomedov.
A year ago, many believed Nurmagomedov was the dangerous and uncrowned bantamweight champion of the world, and went on to lose to a compromised Merab Dvalishvili in a fight he was heavily favored in. The fight was an absolute banger, so not all was lost.
Sure, Nurmagomedov bounced back to beat Mario Bautista in a fight that was much more competitive than most expected. The UFC then goes on to give Nurmagomedov an opportunity to face former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, who is undersized and so far past his fighting prime at the age of 38. In fact, Nurmagomedov closed as one of the biggest betting favorites in UFC history, and instead of going out there and making a statement, Nurmagomedov went out there and just cruised to a win — and got booed out of the building and ripped to shreds on social media by the fan base afterwards. It’s not entirely his fault because Figueiredo wasn’t engaging, but as the near -2000 favorite, the onus from the fan base falls on Nurmagomedov — fair or not.
It seems as if the UFC slowed down the Umar train in terms of the matchmaking, but after this performance, they’re likely pumping the brakes altogether. Can he get back in everyone’s good graces? Absolutely! But I’m starting to get Muhammad Mokaev vibes here. Nurmagomedov has so, so, so much talent, but fights like he doesn’t want to hurt his opponent at all. That’s not going to do it. Whatever mean streak Nurmagomedov can muster, he needs to find it, and find it quickly, because if he gets painted with the “boring” brush by Dana White, he’s done. Just ask Movsar Evloev how well that’s worked out for him.
Lee: From a strictly monetary standpoint, it was a bad week for Alex Perez.
First, the one-time UFC title challenger missed weight Friday, costing him 20 percent of his show money, which for a veteran like him is no small chunk of change. This also made Perez ineligible for a post-fight bonus, so his first-round knockout of Charles Johnson did little more than get him back in the win column and hopefully some leverage at the negotiation table, though I question how eager the UFC is to play ball with a flyweight who turns 34 in March.
Keep in mind, UFC award bonuses are now doubled to $100,000, and finishes automatically put an extra $25,000 in your pocket, so it’s possible Perez’s extra 2.5 pounds on the scale cost him in the range of $25,000 to $125,000. Woof.
Martin: It’s never fun to pile onto somebody who already had a bad night, but Paddy Pimblett blew it, and there’s no way to sugarcoat it.
By all accounts, Pimblett shouldn’t have even been in the fight on Saturday — that spot rightly belonged to Arman Tsarukyan — but he got it anyway. Sportsbooks had Pimblett as a massive favorite, and the fight was effectively set up as a passing of the torch with “The Baddy” expected to torch Gaethje, send him off to retirement, and then set up arguably the biggest fight possible in the UFC today with Ilia Topuria.
Instead, Pimblett got beaten up and humbled by the supposedly older and slower Gaethje. It reminded me of the story D.L. Hughley told about the time he tried fighting his father.
“My father started moving a little slower, and I said uh-huh, I can take this motherf*cker. He’s slow! So one day I tried — I don’t really remember a lot about it, but I can say he wasn’t as slow as I thought he was. At one point, I thought I was fighting three motherf*ckers! How did you get behind me?”
Pimblett might want to take that lesson to heart. He’s still a draw, but putting him in there right now against somebody like Topuria would be cruel and unusual punishment, but we didn’t know that for certain until seeing him get bombed on by Gaethje for five rounds. Pimblett’s entire story isn’t written, but the chapter focused on a highly anticipated showdown against Topuria closed with that loss at UFC 324.
Meshew: Saturday night, we saw the final title dreams of Rose Namajunas die.
Whenever she hangs up the gloves, Namajunas will be an enigma in this sport — something like a modern Randy Couture, high highs, many lows. “Thug Rose” has always been incredibly talented, but she’s super mercurial; but since moving up to 125 pounds, she’s seemed less of both. No longer do we see spurts of Namajunas the world-beater, just like we rarely see the Rose who does nothing and loses to Carla Esparza. Instead, she’s just somehow lesser. In the words of Lewis Carroll, she used to be much more … muchier. She’s lost her muchness. And so now she doesn’t lose by a lot, but she doesn’t win by much either, leaving her as an also-ran at 125 pounds.
Read the full article here
