Paddy Pimblett vs. Justin Gaethje UFC 324 breakdown from training partner of ‘The Baddy’

Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje will battle for the UFC’s interim lightweight title this weekend, with someone vying for the PFL 155-pound strap in the coming weeks weighing on the Saturday night scrap. Alfie Davis prepares to do battle with Usman Nurmagomedov, with the latter’s PFL lightweight title on the line in the headlining attraction of PFL Dubai, which transpires on February 7th.

Davis, on route to preparing for his title fight, was found getting in championship-caliber work with Pimblett ahead of his clash with the former UFC interim lightweight and ex-BMF champion in the headliner of UFC 324 this weekend. When asked to touch on the X’s and O’s of that Pimblett versus Gaethje clash, Davis said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yeah, I think Paddy’s going to win, you know. I think Justin Gaethje, is very good. He’s been shown to be very good. Unfortunately for him, I think he’s had a lot of miles on the clock and Paddy’s fresh. I think that Paddy’s a significantly better grappler than him. Also I think that Paddy is long, he fights very long. Justin Gaethje has been shown to get get hit and get dropped quite a bit. So it’s a close, close fight. It’s going to be a tough fight, but I would say that yeah, I’ll definitely bet on Paddy.”

Paddy Pimblett hits championship weight for UFC 324

Paddy Pimblett has taken to the scales ahead of his interim UFC title bout tomorrow and has hit the contracted weight limit ahead of the promotion’s kickoff card of 2026. ‘The Baddy’ hit the 154 pound mark when it was his turn to weigh in while his adversary Gaethje hit 155 on the nose leading into UFC 324.

Pimblett and Gaethje took part in their weigh ins smoothly and without incident. This stood in stark contrast to Cameron Smotherman fainting after weighing in which has since resulted in his clash with Ricky Turcios now being cancelled. Both of the headlining lightweights are eligible to garner gold here and will punch their ticket to a later clash with divisional kingpin Ilia Topuria whenever he ends up returning to the octagon.