"You cannot have that mentality when you come in here," Gaethje said of Pimblett following their epic UFC 324 interim title main event.
Justin Gaethje has never needed subtlety to make a point — violence has always been his language, pressure his punctuation. At UFC 324, the newly-crowned two-time interim lightweight champion used both to snap Paddy Pimblett’s unbeaten UFC run. In doing so, Gaethje reminded the division that he's very much still an elite contender.
Saturday's debut matchup on Paramount carried equal parts hype and volatility, with Pimblett’s rising star power colliding against Gaethje’s earned wisdom. Gaethje said afterward that he saw a young fighter fueled by belief, bravado and momentum — the same ingredients that once powered his own undefeated ascent a decade ago. Because of that, he understood exactly what had to be taken away.
"[Going to war with me] was his only choice," Gaethje said at UFC 324's post-fight press conference. "I knew he wasn't going to quit. He's not a quitter. I've never seen him quit, never seen him give up. And luckily, I found some success early.
"I was going to have to steal his momentum, and he was very confident. I had to take that early. The moment I stepped in there, he didn't take his eyes off me. That was me not too long ago, and I was Eddie Alvarez, here to teach him a lesson. Same thing [Alvarez] did to me."
Gaethje, 37, speaks from experience. He once carried the same reckless certainty that chaos would always bend his way — and it did, until former UFC lightweight champion Alvarez showed him otherwise in his sophomore Octagon appearance in 2017. Years later, Gaethje found himself delivering that same harsh education at UFC 324, not out of malice, but necessity.
Gaethje said he wanted the finish — Saturday's unanimous decision win was only his sixth in 27 wins. But there was a deeper satisfaction, he explained, in dismantling the illusion Pimblett carried into the fight. The Englishman's pre-fight barbs only added fuel to Gaethje's championship fire.
"I really wanted to finish him, but I loved teaching him a lesson," Gaethje said. "He said my face was not going to look the same after the fight, and his would look the exact same. So as soon as it was over, I was like, 'Look at your face, motherf***er. It does not look the same.'
"He's going to learn from this. You cannot have that mentality when you come in here. He needs to accept the worst possible outcome, and that's how you perform the best when the pressure's the highest. I learned that early, and it's such a crazy sport. Anything can happen any moment. You've just gotta bet on yourself, and tonight I bet on me — not literally, but figuratively. It's just what we're doing."
For Gaethje, the lesson wasn’t about toughness. Pimblett proved plenty durable, but "The Highlight" differentiated confidence and delusion. In a division as stacked with talent as lightweight, there’s no room for shortcuts or borrowed bravado. Every exchange extracts a tax.
"You have to learn from these lessons," Gaethje said. "His mindset going into that fight was not good. You cannot do that like this. False confidence is terrible. It will kill you every time, and that's what he had. Specifically saying this was going to be the same exact fight as [Michael] Chandler was crazy. I was like, 'Yes. Thank God he's thinking like this.'
"You cannot approach this sport like that. He'll learn. He's really good, he's got balls of steel, can't get put to sleep, obviously. I smoked him."
For Gaethje, mileage accumulates differently after years of chaos, but the goal remains unmistakable. He still wants the biggest stage, the sharpest edge and the highest stakes available. The UFC’s ambitious White House event in June looms as a potential next destination, timing and health permitting. As long as he's able, that's Gaethje's target date.
More importantly, UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria now stands as the gravitational pull of the division. The undefeated force announced his temporary hiatus late last year, which inevitably led to the booking of UFC 324's main event.
Gaethje doesn’t pretend to be the sport’s loudest salesman, but he understands what a collision against a name as formidable as Topuria represents.
"Can't wait. That's what I got here for," Gaethje said. "That's what we do, and, of course, that's what I believe the next fight is, unless he's not back.
"If I had any bit of a personality, [that fight] would be f***ing huge. But I just can't lie, can't exaggerate. It's what I do, it's who I am, who my parents taught me to be. But there's no doubt that'd be one of the best fights that they could put on. ... If he's not back by [June], they will strip him, and I'll be undisputed, and fight for the belt on [the White House event] and defend it."
Category: General Sports
