Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 had a lot of things, but it didn’t have a lot of grappling … and Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson wanted to know why.
Johnson got his chance to question Gaethje about his refusal to engage with Pimblett on the ground during the Celebrity Sweat flag football game leading into Super Bowl LV. Both men were playing on the same team, and “Mighty Mouse” didn’t hold back when discussing Gaethje’s strategy for Pimblett.
“Why didn’t you f–king grapple?” Johnson
asked.
“I did grapple!” Gaethje replied, pointing out the front headlocks he consistently trapped Pimblett with. “How safe was it? So safe. I would have lost. I had to win. Had. To. Win!”
Pimblett is more of a submission specialist than knockout artist, so it’s strange that Johnson would expect Gaethje to play more on the ground with him. “The Highlight” has always been very honest about his grappling shortcomings and listed them out again.
“Every time I put hooks in, I’m done,” he said. “I get too high. Even wrestling my whole life, I never get the legs in. Get in trouble every time. I’ll never put hooks in. I get too high. Consistently. And I give up position. I’m in such a good position and I’m landing heavy shots, doing damage, and they’re like ‘F–k this!'”
Johnson then switched to wondering why Pimblett didn’t grapple more.
“How do you shoot when you’re going [backwards] all the time?” Gaethje asked? “I’m just consistently moving him this way. Yeah, he was kicking me. But he kicked like a b–ch so I was like, ‘I can walk through that.’ Once I figured I could walk through that, then it was money … He doesn’t have a shot like that [backing up]. He only has this one [double leg]. It’s his only entrance.”
It wasn’t all insults towards Pimblett, though. Gaethje did give the Scouser credit for not getting knocked out.
“How he didn’t go to sleep, I have no idea,” Gaethje said with a laugh.
So where does Justin go from here? He sat down with some media during Super Bowl week and said he expected nothing less than the Ilia Topuria unification fight on the June White House card. He and Trevor Wittman will need another great game plan to nullify Topuria’s offensive tools, which are several levels above what Paddy Pimblett was slinging at UFC 324.
