If Paddy Pimblett does what most experts and the oddsmakers think he’ll do Saturday, he might miss out on something he’d love to see.
Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) fully expects to beat Justin Gaethje (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in their interim lightweight title fight at UFC 324 (Paramount+) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Champion Ilia Topuria is taking time off for personal reasons and is expected to fight the winner later this year.
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Pimblett opened as a -230 betting favorite. To put that in perspective as far as Gaethje is concerned, he’s only been this big of an underdog twice in his UFC career: his first fight with Rafael Fiziev, and his lightweight title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov, in which the Russian closed around -300 – not all that much higher than Pimblett’s current odds of roughly -250.
Gaethje said before the interim title bout was booked that it was another crack at UFC gold or he’d walk away. So Pimblett and most others seem to think a Gaethje loss means he’ll retire.
And that, for Pimblett, is a little surreal.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m going to be the one to retire you,” Pimblett told TMZ. “If someone would have said that five years ago, that Paddy Pimblett’s going to retire Justin Gaethje, they would have scoffed at you. But that’s what’s going to happen.”
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Gaethje, a former WSOF lightweight champion and former UFC interim lightweight champ, turned 37 this past November. In March 2025, he bounced back from a viral KO loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300 with a decision over Fiziev in their rematch.
But that rematch only happened – two years after Gaethje first beat him by majority decision – because Dan Hooker had to pull out with a hand injury. Hooker and Pimblett have sparred verbally of late, and since Pimblett doesn’t plan on needing to defend the title he expects to win against Hooker, he’d like to see someone else stick around a little bit and feed him a knuckle sandwich.
“I hope he doesn’t retire. I love watching Justin Gaethje fight. Justin Gaethje’s one of my favorite fighters to watch,” Pimblett said. “I’d still love to see him punch Dan Hooker’s head in. I think that would be hilarious. Hopefully that fight ends up happening and he doesn’t retire.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Paddy Pimblett’s mixed emotions on ending Gaethje’s career at UFC 324
