Justin Gaethje seems to be getting ready for an surprising change in strategy for his Octagon look. After light-weight champion Ilia Topuria introduced that she could be taking a break from competing, the promotion moved shortly, with an interim title struggle between “The Spotlight” and Paddy Pimblett booked as the primary occasion of UFC 324 in January 2026.
Gaethje turns into the UFC’s first two-time interim champion and stands to arrange a future title unification bout with Topuria. However earlier than that occurs, he’ll need to navigate Pimblett’s wrestling-focused strategy in what many see as a matchup outlined by contrasting talent units.
“The Spotlight” is an achieved NCAA Division I wrestler, however his MMA profession has targeted totally on putting, and he hardly ever reveals off his grappling contained in the Octagon. Nonetheless, Gaethje says he is totally ready to deal with no matter “The Buddy” throws at him on January twenty fourth.
Justin Gaethje teases shock submission upset at UFC 324
In a latest interview with Submission Radio, Justin Gaethje talked about his title struggle towards Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324. The previous interim light-weight champion stated he is able to struggle on the bottom if essential, noting that he has already confronted among the UFC’s most elite grapplers, together with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira.
“Folks bear in mind the largest struggle I had towards probably the most elite grappler. You recognize, I had issues,” Gaethje stated. “However Charles Oliveira obtained me on the bottom by shaking me and sitting me down with punches. Khabib was an entire different problem.”
The Spotlight added that after his loss to Oliveira, he put in quite a lot of effort to hone his grappling expertise, hinting that there was a slim however actual likelihood of him submitting Pimblett within the UFC.
On the finish of the day, he is a extremely good grappler, however for the reason that Charles Oliveira struggle, I have been coaching actually, actually quite a lot of jiu-jitsu and grappling, and I really get pleasure from it greater than ever. So despite the fact that I am not going to grapple, I’ve no drawback within the grappling division and my potential to maintain folks from beating me is second to none. Which means he’ll need to compromise me with punches, kicks and knees, after which he’ll have a greater likelihood. That is such a loopy sport, you by no means know. Possibly I am going to sub him. Nevertheless, that have to be a one in one million likelihood. ”
Justin Gaethje final fought in March at UFC 313, the place he defeated Rafael Fiziev by unanimous determination in a rematch. The 37-year-old Arizona native is 4-3 in his final seven fights and holds a 9-5 total UFC report.
