Paddy Pimblett has outlined his expectations ahead of his interim UFC lightweight title fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 324, predicting lasting damage for the veteran contender. 

The bout has been made with the interim belt at stake due to the absence of undisputed champion Ilia Topuria from competition, placing Pimblett and Gaethje in line to contest divisional supremacy on a temporary basis.

“He won’t be physically the same after this fight. I will,” Pimblett told reporters, including The Mac Life, in Las Vegas on Wednesday. “I will be exactly the same. I’m going to put a beatdown on him like he’s never received. I can promise you that.”

Pimblett also suggested the matchup has been long in the making, adding: “But it was just another fight to me. When a contract with a name gets sent to me, I sign it. I don’t turn down no fight. I step up, and I fight the person whose name is on the contract.”

The Liverpool native further claimed that an earlier version of the bout had been discussed, stating: “I thought I was going to fight Justin in October in Abu Dhabi, but I think he turned it down. Now, there’s a belt on the line. He’s taken the fight. It’s nice to actually fight someone I thought I was going to fight a while back.”

The winner of the interim title fight is expected to be positioned for a future unification bout with Topuria, depending on the champion’s return timetable and the outcome at UFC 324.

Gaethje, a former interim champion and one of the most established names in the lightweight division, last competed in March of 2025 in a unanimous decision win over Rafael Fiziev while Pimblett enters his first UFC title fight aiming to extend his rise in the organisation’s deepest weight class after emerging victorious in his first seven fights under the UFC banner.