Justin Gaethje plans to play spoiler role against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324

UFC veteran Justin Gaethje is ready to play the role of spoiler in the main event of UFC 324 against Paddy Pimblett.

For the longest time now, Justin Gaethje has been putting forward his case to compete for the UFC lightweight championship. He has been around the block and he has even held the interim gold before, but given where he’s at in his career, he is ready to make one final push for the undisputed title.

RELATED: Paddy Pimblett goes on X-rated rant against Justin Gaethje’s title shot holdout

At UFC 324, he will once again get the chance to win the interim belt as Gaethje prepares to battle Paddy Pimblett. Both men were probably hoping to square off with undisputed champion Ilia Topuria, but ‘El Matador’ is currently in the midst of a hiatus from the cage to deal with some personal issues.

In last night’s press conference, Gaethje gave his thoughts on possibly playing the role of spoiler for those who are eager to see Topuria vs Pimblett.

Gaethje wants to play role of spoiler at UFC 324

“I didn’t know a long time before they announced the fight that it was going to be Paddy. I think they were waiting to see if Ilia was going to fight. … Turns out, he’s going to sit down for a little bit.

“So Paramount, this is — they need a Michael Johnson vs. Justin Gaethje coming-out party. Paramount, UFC combining; this is a fight that everyone wants. We’re going to gain massive fans for UFC. Entertainment business, and I’m the most entertaining fighter in the world. And this guy is pretty close behind me. It’s going to be a hell of a fight.”

“Ultimately, like I said, this gets us paid as a champion, and it definitely gives me the chance to fight Ilia,” Gaethje said. “I want to fight Ilia. I want to play spoiler, just like I did with Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and Tony [Ferguson]. I’m going to f*ck this up for everybody. There’s going to be no Paddy and Ilia. I’m going to do the same thing I did for that fight, and then I’m going to fight Ilia on the White House card, if he’s ready to fight again. We’ll see when he’s ready again.”

Quotes via MMA Fighting