Justin Gaethje has admitted he ‘loves how scared’ he would be in a fight with Ilia Topuria.
On 24 January, Gaethje will face Paddy Pimblett for the interim UFC lightweight title, while regular-title holder Topuria takes a brief break from MMA for personal reasons.
Theoretically, the winner of UFC 324’s main event between Gaethje and Pimblett will challenge Topuria later in 2026, in a bid to unify the titles.
And Gaethje has been candid about his feelings towards a fight with the unbeaten Topuria, who is riding a three-fight knockout streak – with each finish coming against an icon of the sport, in Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira.
“I mean, really, I trust... my A to B is what I have to trust in,” Gaethje told ESPN Deportes, discussing a potential bout with the Spanish-Georgian champion.
“I have to trust in my intuition, I have to trust in my ability to judge distance and time – and just be there.
“This sport is so crazy, anything can happen. There’s a reason why we’re all on the edge of our seats every fight, because anything can happen at any moment.
“So again, it comes down to not making mistakes against a guy like that: not eating his right hand, not walking into his right hand, his left hook...
“His two-three [right hand into left hook] is one of the best combinations I’ve seen in this sport, and so it’s a beautiful challenge. And I love how scared I’ll be.”
Topuria won the vacant lightweight belt in June by knocking out former champion Oliveira in round one. Prior to that contest, he won and retained the featherweight title with his 2024 knockouts of Volkanovski and Holloway – both of whom are former champions at 145lb.
Topuria vacated the featherweight title before moving up to 155lb to fight Oliveira, and his sophomore outing in the division is due to be determined by Gaethje vs Pimblett.
Gaethje will enter his Vegas showdown with the Liverpudlian on just a one-fight win streak; in March, he outpointed Rafael Fiziev for the second time in two years. Prior to that win, Gaethje was knocked out by Holloway in the final second of their 25-minute fight in 2024.
Gaethje vs Pimblett will mark a sixth UFC title fight for the American, 37 – including interim and “Baddest Motherf*****” (BMF) title bouts. His record in such fights is 2-3. Meanwhile, the contest is Pimblett’s first for a UFC championship of any kind.
In 2020, Gaethje beat Tony Ferguson to win the interim lightweight title, but he failed to unify the belts against then-regular champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In 2022, Gaethje again failed to win the undisputed strap, and he has since gone 1-1 in BMF title fights, knocking out Dustin Poirier to win that belt but dropping it in his loss to Holloway.
