Paddy Pimblett has his sights set on a second meeting with Justin Gaethje, but says he needs to handle business against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 329 in Las Vegas next month first.
Gaethje defeated Pimblett by five-round unanimous decision in their UFC 324 main event back in January. Pimblett claims Gaethje landed "eye gouges" and "low blows" during the fight, and believes the scorecards were closer than many think.
"I went five rounds with Gaethje and was pushing the pace to the very end, I didn’t quit," Pimblett said. "I kept coming forward trying to finish the fight. And I think I won [rounds] three and five, so he beat me 3-2. One of the judges agreed. And if a lot of different things didn’t happen in that fight like eye gouges and low blows and then faking low blows, then it would have been a different fight. We’ve got to get on with it now. No point crying over spilled milk. I just hope I get to fight again. As I say, he’s the undisputed champion now. I went five rounds with the undisputed champion of the world."
Gaethje, now the undisputed lightweight champion after defeating former 155-pound champion Ilia Topuria at a UFC White House event in Washington, DC earlier this month, is expected to defend his belt against top contender Arman Tsarukyan later this year, assuming he does not retire.
Pimblett does not view the Saint Denis matchup as a title eliminator. "To be honest, I don’t think [Saint Denis fight is] a No. 1 contender fight, but I think Arman’s probably still No. 1 contender," he said.
Pimblett also pointed to other moving pieces at 155 pounds. "But Justin said himself that Charles [Oliveira] has beaten him before so he’d like to fight Charles again. Charles could end up getting the title shot. Perfect time to make Ilia vs. Arman because Arman’s been calling Ilia out for years. But there’s so many different variables in the lightweight division now, you don’t know. I’d love to beat BSD and get a rematch with Justin, but I can’t really demand that after a one-fight win streak, so we’ll just have to see what happens over the coming weeks."
