Pimblett vows to shoot for takedown in first 10 seconds if Gaethje rematch materialises

Paddy Pimblett has a blunt blueprint for a potential rematch with Justin Gaethje: skip the stand-up entirely, shoot for a takedown inside the first 10 seconds, and finish the fight on the ground. The admission comes after Pimblett acknowledged that his ego led him away from his natural grappling game when the two met at UFC 324 in January.

“If I fought him again, I’d shoot in in the first 10 seconds,” Pimblett said on the How U Livin J Piven podcast. “I’d love to get that rematch. I’d shoot in in the first 10 seconds, put him on his back and choke his ass out.”

Gaethje defeated Pimblett for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324 before stunning Ilia Topuria for the undisputed belt at UFC White House in June, completing one of the more remarkable championship runs in recent lightweight history. Pimblett has since been widely criticised for not leaning on the submission skills that define his game, a point he has not disputed.

Since the loss, Pimblett has shown exactly what that grappling looks like when he commits to it. He rebounded with a 52-second choke-out of Benoit Saint Denis, a finish that sits alongside submission wins over King Green, Jordan Leavitt, and Rodrigo Vargas, as well as a ground-and-pound stoppage of Michael Chandler, on his UFC record.

Pimblett is realistic about his place in the title picture right now. Gaethje’s first defence is expected to involve Arman Tsarukyan, the current No. 1 contender, while Topuria and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski have also been floated as potential challengers when Gaethje returns in 2027. Pimblett even raised the possibility that Gaethje, who turns 38 in November, may not fight again at all.

“I don’t think he’ll even fight again,” Pimblett said. “He’s never going to beat that high of winning the belt at the White House. My coaches said to me, ‘If that was you in that situation, I’d tell you to retire.’ There’s no point in chasing something else when he’s never going to get a better feeling than winning that belt at the White House.”

Pimblett also addressed his long-running rivalry with Topuria, with whom he has had physical confrontations outside the cage. Despite both men now competing at lightweight, Pimblett made clear that a world title shot takes priority over settling a personal score.

“I’d take a rematch with Gaethje before Ilia, because I want to be a world champion,” he said.