Paddy Pimblett got to rewatch his first ever UFC title fight with Justin Gaethje, and he took a lot away from it — lessons, and even frustrations with his own performance at times, and with the referee who chose not to deduct a point during a pivotal moment.
Gaethje defeated Pimblett via unanimous decision to capture the interim lightweight title in the main event of January’s UFC 324 event. “The Highlight” battered Pimblett for big chunks of the fight, but Pimblett certainly had his moments, and
showed his toughness. What really frustrated Pimblett during the re-watch was getting poked in the eye by Gaethje in Round 2, which led to a big knockdown that changed the momentum of the round, and the fight as a whole.
As “The Paddy” watched through the final horn, he has no idea how any of the judges gave Gaethje four rounds, and felt that if the referee was doing his job, it could’ve been scored a draw.
Check out Pimbett checking out and commenting on the Gaethje fight in the video above.
“To me, I win [Rounds] 3 and 5,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “If he got a point took off like he should have, lad, that’s a draw. I don’t want to sound bitter, and I don’t want to cry over spilled milk, but I know how Jared Gordon felt, let’s put it that way.”
Of course, Pimblett won a controversial decision over Gordon at UFC 282 in December 2022, which led to an angry response from a chunk of the fan base claiming Gordon was robbed in the fight.
Pimblett went on to defeat Tony Ferguson, King Green and Michael Chandler to earn his shot with Gaethje, where he hung in there with one of the most exciting fighters in the history of the sport.
“I knew the scorecards wouldn’t be in our favor,” Pimblett explained. “That’s why I did that little, ‘Don’t know’ to my mom and me dad, because I half knew that I lost. … [The scorecards] all should’ve been 48-47.
“[After the fight, Gaethje] was telling me I was a warrior when I got through the fight. Sick when Justin Gaethje is calling you a gangster.”
