Las Vegas — While Paddy Pimblett has promised that Justin Gaethje “won’t be physically the same” after their UFC 324 main event, Gaethje himself is paying those comments no mind.
Gaethje (26-5) looks to claim an interim lightweight title in the UFC for the second time this Saturday in Las Vegas, kicking off the promotion’s new broadcast deal with Paramount+. As he put it during Wednesday’s media day, speaking with journalists from around the globe including Cageside Press, “I know I’m the most consistent guy the most exciting guy, and that’s probably why I’m here.”
As for Pimblett’s words, “I certainly take nothing from those comments,” Gaethje stated. “25 minutes in time. Right now, what he’s saying right now does not matter. All that tells me is that hopefully he’s going to be overconfident, and the last thing you can do in this sport is have false confidence. He’d be crazy to think and not know that I’m one of the most dangerous guys he’s ever fought.”
For Gaethje, one big difference is the number of five-round fights the pair have been booked for. “I’ve been scheduled for a five round fight at least 20 times in my career. Certainly not for him. It’s a different ballgame.”
Pimblett has gone five rounds three times in his career, losing two of them. That was in his Cage Warriors days; he’s never gone 25 minutes in the UFC.
“You don’t know what you don’t know. He hasn’t been there.” Gaethje reiterated the experience difference, adding that it’s “different training, different mindset, different tactics. I want to take him to the fourth of fifth round. I want to do the same thing, turn his face into mincemeat. I’ve done it before, done it to high-caliber fighters, but this guy has a lot of momentum right now, a lot of confidence, and those are some of the most dangerous variables that I will be facing when I step in there.”
“The Highlight,” a former WSOF lightweight champion who is now 37, was asked during media day how many fights he has left in him. “How many fights I have left? No f*cking clue. One at a time.”
However, Gaethje once claimed he had five “wars” once in him, back at UFC Philadelphia, where he knocked out James Vick. Counting his bouts with Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway, and Michael Chandler, “I guess I have two left,” he stated to wrap up his appearance on Wednesday.
Watch the full UFC 324 media day appearance by Justin Gaethje above.
