The UFC begins its run with new broadcast partner Paramount+ with a pair of title fights, at least one of which is a bit out of left field.
On Thursday, UFC CEO and President Dana White announced that UFC 324 will headline an interim lightweight championship fight, pitting Justin Gaethje (26-5) against Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett (23-3). The co-main event features the highly anticipated showdown between former teammates Kayla Harrison (19-1) and Amanda Nunes (23-5), with Harrison’s 135-pound title on the line.
Gaethje vs. Pimblett follows Ilia Topuria’s announcement that he will not defend his lightweight title in the first quarter of 2026. Topuria won lightweight gold earlier this year, defeating Charles Oliveira in June.
Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje has been waiting for a title fight since defeating Rafael Fiziev in March. He is 3-1 in his last four, with the lone loss coming to Max Holloway at UFC 300. Gaethje, a former WSOF lightweight champion and bonus-winning machine since arriving in the UFC in 2017, previously held an interim lightweight title after defeating Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 in 2020. That led to a failed attempt to become undisputed champion against Khabib Nurmagomedov later that year.
Pimblett, a former Cage Warriors star, is 7-0 since joining the UFC in 2021, with wins over the likes of Tony Ferguson, King Green and Michael Chandler. The Liverpool-based fighter has quickly become one of the UFC’s most recognizable stars.
Harrison, a former two-time PFL champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, earned the UFC women’s bantamweight championship earlier this year by defeating Julianna Pena. That was enough to lure Amanda Nunes out of retirement; the two seemed destined to clash until Nunes split a pair of fights with Pena in 2021-2022 and then dropped out of a rubber match the following year and was replaced by Irene Aldana.
“The Lioness,” considered the UFC’s women’s GOAT, retired after defeating Aldana at UFC 289 in Vancouver. However, as Harrison climbed to the top of the mountain, a fight between the two became a hot topic again.
A number of other bouts for UFC 324, which will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV on January 24, 2026, were announced by White on Thursday. These include Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Derrick Lewis, Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong, Arnold Allen vs. Jean Silva, Alexa Grasso vs. Rose Namajunas, Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Deiveson Figueiredo and Ateba Gautier vs. Andrey Pulyaev.
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