On Saturday night, the primary title fight of the Paramount+ era set a high bar for others to follow.
Justin Gaethje defeated Paddy Pimblett over five rounds to change into a two-time interim lightweight champion on January 24.
‘The Baddy’ by some means survived some incredibly tough moments within the fight before the scorecards unanimously decided the bout.
The entertaining nature of the principal event earned Gaethje a record-equalling tenth Fight of the Night bonus.
While many viewed the competition as an excellent success, some were more critical of what they saw play out contained in the Octagon last Saturday.
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Justin Gaethje responds to criticism of his UFC 324 performance
Justin Gaethje’s win over Paddy Pimblett was criticized by a few of their fellow fighters for turning right into a somewhat messy brawl at points.
Each men combined for a complete of 300 significant strikes, with ‘The Baddy’ out landing his opponent by 156 to 144.
Pimblett’s chin was actually put to the test over the five rounds, however the approach we saw from Gaethje was lots more reckless than he has been in a few of his recent bouts.
One specific reference that was thrown around is that he didn’t fight the identical way as he did when going the space on two occasions with Rafael Fiziev.
‘The Highlight’ addressed this when reflecting on his latest victory in the course of the What Hones You Show.
He expressed frustration that folks have been so negative about his performance and where he’s at in his profession after selecting to fight this method to counter his opponent’s style.
“How are you going to not understand that I’m fighting a special kind of fight?” he questioned. “Styles make matchups and that was the style I needed to commit to on this fight. I mean, this kid is funky, he throws lots of volume. He throws hard shots and if I might have fought him like I did Fiziev, I might have gotten outpointed. So, this fight I fought in a forward style and it worked from the primary second on.”
Gaethje also said that not throwing kicks, which have been certainly one of his best weapons, was an element of the plan to not quit easy takedowns which he described as “f—— genius”.
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Justin Gaethje expects other fighters to follow his game plan for Paddy Pimblett
Justin Gaethje said immediately after the fight that his plan was to walk Paddy Pimblett down and get in his face.
‘The Highlight’ said in the course of the What Hones You Show podcast that he believes ‘The Baddy’ will present the identical challenges that he needed to cope with to other opponents within the UFC.
Dan Hooker may not expect Pimblett to be around for for much longer, but Gaethje seemingly doesn’t see it this manner.
“He’s going to be an issue,” he said. “He’s very awkward, you’re going to must fight him a certain way. For those who try to hang around and out point him, he’s going to beat you. He’s throwing s— from the funkiest angles on the craziest times and the one way is to place your head on his chest. You may have to push him back.”
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