The UFC is starting its run with new broadcast partner Paramount+ with a pair of title fights, at least one of which is a little out of left field.
On Thursday, UFC CEO and President Dana White announced that UFC 324 will be headlined by an interim lightweight championship fight, which sees Justin Gaethje (26-5) take on Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett (23-3). In the co-main event, the much-anticipated showdown between former teammates Kayla Harrison (19-1) and Amanda Nunes (23-5) arrives, with Harrison’s 135lb title on the line.
Gaethje vs. Pimblett comes in the wake of Ilia Topuria announcing that he would not be defending his lightweight title in the first quarter of 2026. Topuria won lightweight gold earlier this year, knocking out Charles Oliveira in June.
Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje has been holding out for a title fight since defeating Rafael Fiziev in March. He’s 3-1 across his last four, with the lone loss coming to Max Holloway at UFC 300. A former WSOF lightweight champ and bonus-winning machine since arriving in the UFC in 2017, Gaethje previously held an interim lightweight title after defeating Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 in 2020. That led to a failed attempt at becoming undisputed champ against Khabib Nurmagomedov later that year.
Pimblett, a former Cage Warriors star, is 7-0 since joining the UFC in 2021, with wins over the likes of Tony Ferguson, King Green, and Michael Chandler. The Liverpool-based fighter has quickly become one of the UFC’s most recognizable stars.
Harrison, a former two-time PFL champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist in Judo, earned the UFC women’s bantamweight championship by defeating Julianna Pena earlier this year. That was enough to lure Amanda Nunes out of retirement; the two had seemed destined to collide until Nunes split a pair of fights with Pena in 2021-22, then dropped out of a rubber match the following year, replaced by Irene Aldana.
“The Lioness,” considered the UFC women’s GOAT, retired after she defeated Aldana at UFC 289 in Vancouver. With Harrison ascending to the top of the mountain, however, a fight between the two once again became a hot topic.
A number of other bouts for UFC 324, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV on January 24, 2026, were announced by White on Thursday. Those include Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Derrick Lewis, Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong, Arnold Allen vs. Jean Silva, Alexa Grasso vs. Rose Namajunas, Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Deiveson Figueiredo, and Ateba Gautier vs. Andrey Pulyaev.
