Justin Gaethje Refuses Paddy Pimblett Matchup and Feels ‘Not Needed’ with Title Shot Snub

Justin Gaethje will absolutely not fight down the order to root out top contender, and again demands a UFC lightweight title shot based out of merit.

Justin Gaethje Refuses Paddy Pimblett Matchup and Feels ‘Not Needed’ with Title Shot Snub

Justin Gaethje turns down UFC top contender matchup with 155-pounder (Source: X)

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Newly crowned UFC 155-pound champ Ilia Topuria snagging vacant gold, along with former kingpin Islam Makhachev relinquishing has sent the weight class into disarray. Many top fighters want to contend for gold or at least make the case. The one who’s most strong-headed about it, though, would be Justin Gaethje.

Gaethje made the historic UFC 300 PPV lineup, and the buzzer-beater BMF ending was possible, which even carried over and out to this last weekend. Reigning BMF Champ Max Holloway now makes the (title shot) case with a win over him (Gaethje, who was the then-top contender). Holloway has the momentum and now is just another ‘UFC 300-esque’ matchup away from gaining a Topuria PPV title rematch.

The ‘Highlight’ is a 9X “Fight of the Night” post-fight honors winner and always a zinger for exciting fights like UFC 300. Other than answering those summons for exciting fights, Gaethje acclimated to a short-notice shuffle and logged a near finish of Rafael Fiziev at UFC 313 PPV in a rematch.

Now, the American fighter wants his dues from UFC execs and has doubled down that he won’t make weight for any other fun and violent scraps but a title shot. Specifically, not a top contender matchup with No.10-ranked Paddy Pimblett:

Absolutely not, …If that’s the route they want me to take, I don’t believe they need me anymore. I know that sounds petty…but I’m No. 3, I’m [also] 3-1 in my last four.

Justin Gaethje to ESPN’s MMA’s Brett Okamoto (🎥: @espnmma)

Topuria has inclined towards resolving his rivalry with Pimblett, and after their charged faceoff, he’s open to the Scouse as his first defense. However, a bigger portion of the fight clique bill that Justin Gaethje vs. Pimblett makes more sense for blooming out a clear No.1 contender.

Logistically, it makes sense; the duo is far apart. Just touching top-10, Pimblett often runs into claims of bossman privileges and handover wins; his third-round TKO over Michael Chandler included, the staples he faces are mostly older. As such, he needs to probably rack up one more win to justifiably get a title shot.

That is not the case for #4 lightweight Gathje. He has been here long enough to spoil Tony Ferguson’s 12-fight win streak and be the retirement bout of a lightweight legend. With No. 1 ranked Arman Tsarukyan still in title limbo, he makes a good case for a title crack and doesn’t want more intermediate fights.

Justin Gaethje rips ‘shunted’ matchmaking algorithm, thinks he merits title shot now

Ever hear the tale of the janky rankings in the UFC? It’s not something execs just blurt out, except for promoting that everything will be okay once AI takes over. Sometimes, fighters don’t make the spot, while sometimes they stick to it too long. UFC CEO Dana White promises big things after partnering with artificial intelligence (AI) brand IBM and its “watsonx” platform. For now, though, it’s just a pre-fight data insight engine.

Justin Gaethje iterates his problems stemming from unfair matchmaking
Justin Gaethje iterates his problems stemming from unfair matchmaking (Source: X)

Athletes’ listing ranking falls on media members from USAToday, Yahoo! Sports, UPROXX, HDNet, and so on. On the flip side, UFC matchmaking goes to people like Mick Maynard, Sean Shelby, and others. While matchmaking is not as dire as rankings, sometimes people do not get their dues as promised. It’s also hard to vibe the process behind closed doors.

Recently, in a long method of title snub, lightweight Justin Gaethje has grown a certain amount of disdain. He would prefer merit-based matchmaking, and he thinks he warrants a title fight.

The champion [Islam] was calling [on[ to fight me, but then he vacated…and they brought a new guy in and gave a guy that’s 2-2 [Charles Oliveira, in last few] the fight, …So if their algorithm and their math tell them to just use me until I get beat, then I’m really going to have to re-evaluate what I’m doing here. I signed for a merit-based system, I live by that.

Justin Gaehje further said

The proud American fighter makes a strong case, but it hardly ever goes the desired way by playing this hand. UFC boss Dana White has called out these claims as “wacky”, and the truth is that the UFC doesn’t put all its eggs in one basket. By playing his hand, Gaethje might be shooting himself in the foot here.

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