UFC 324: Paddy Pimblett questions Justin Gaethje’s training partners
Paddy Pimblett thinks he looks better in fight than Justin Gaethje for UFC 324.
Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) faces Gaethje (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) for the interim lightweight title on Jan. 24 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+), with the winner scheduled to unify with champion Ilia Topuria.
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Gaethje trained with former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and top-15 lightweight ranked Fares Ziam ahead of UFC 324. Although Pimblett rates both fighters highly, he doesn’t see them preparing Gaethje for his style.
“It makes me laugh because this is the second person now that has Kamaru Usman as a training partner for me when Kamaru Usman looks nothing like me,” Pimblett told MMA Guru. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s one of the best welterweights of all time, but he’s nothing like me. Again, Fares Ziam, very good fighter, ranked 15th now. I rate Fares, I think he’s a good fighter, but he’s not like me at all.”
Pimblett is the betting favorite against Gaethje, and he figures to be too much for him on the feet and on the ground.
“I think I would finish him off wherever the fight was, obviously,” Pimblett said. “I know he can punch, but every fight we destroy our opponents, and it really shocked me how hard he gets hit. I know he takes one to give one, but you can’t really do that at this level. That’s why he lost to people like Eddie Alvarez, Dustin Poirier, Charles (Oliveira), because you can’t just take one to give one, and I’m not going to stand there and let him hit me. I’ll use my reach, keeping on the outside, and I have a feeling I’m going to knock him out, to be honest I don’t know what it is, I just have a sneaking suspicion I’m going to knock him out.
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“I’ve done a lot of rounds with Luke Riley for this camp. Luke has way better technical striking than Justin Gaethje, and I’ve had a lot of success with Luke. One of my trainers, Ellis (Hampson), used to fight, he’s the exact same size as Justin. He’s 5-foot-10 with a 70-inch reach, and I’ve done rounds with him. Literally because he doesn’t fight anymore. and he’s just a trainer, he just did Justin’s style for me. He doesn’t have his own style, and just the times we’re working, I can see myself knocking him out or dropping him and then submitting him, but if I want to take him down, I’ll just do that, but I see myself dropping him, or TKOing him.
This article was originally published on MMA Junkie: Paddy Pimblett: Justin Gaethje is not training with the right people for me
