UFC 324 results, bonus winners, highlights and finishes

The Paramount era of UFC got off to a solid start, but the main event – ​​while exciting – was peculiar. Justin Gaethje captured the interim UFC lightweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Paddy Pimblett.

The fight was without a doubt the best segment of the evening, but the way it played out was downright strange. Pimblett, the expert wrestler with the underdeveloped stand-up skills, never made a real attempt to take Gaethje to the ground.

While Pimblett had his moments in the 25-minute war, he was particularly battered around the Octagon when he opted to attempt to win the interim title by fighting his opponent’s fight.

I don’t want to take away too much from Gaethje or the raw excitement of the fight, but as a fan of sports and MMA, I love to see a fighter bring the best of themselves against the best of their opponent.

We haven’t seen that from Pimblett. The fact that there were almost no calls for Gaethje to be removed from the commentary team was even wilder.

Still, congratulations to Gaethje, the new interim champion.

Sean O’Malley back in the win column

The former UFC bantamweight champion is back in the winners column after a two-year drought. Song pushed O’Malley to the edge and the first was close, but O’Malley was dominant in the third and final frame to earn the win.

After the win, O’Malley called up reigning champion Petr Yan for a rematch. O’Malley won the first meeting. In the more logical fight, O’Malley would face another of Saturday night’s winners: Umar Nurmagomedov.

UFC 324 Bonus Winners

Fight of the night

Gaethje and Pimblett both claimed bonuses for Fight of the Night.

UFC Bonuses

Ty Miller and Josh Hokit took home the remaining $100,000 bonuses.

Each fighter who won via KO or submission and did not receive a $100,000 bonus earned an additional $25,000.

Main map results

• Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett – UFC Interim Lightweight Championship
• Sean O’Malley def. Song Yadong via unanimous decision (29-28×3)
• Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Derrick Lewis via TKO (strikes), round 2

• Natalia Silva Final Rose Namajunas Viunimous decision (29-28×3)
• Jean Silva def. Arnold Allen via unanimous decision (29-28×3)

Preliminaries

• Omar Nurmagomedov Certainly. Deiveson Figueiredo – Unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Ateba Gautier Certainly. Andrei Pulyev – Unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Nikita Krylov Certainly. Modestas Bukauskas – KO, round 3, 4:57

• Alex Perez Certainly. Charles Johnson – TKO (strikes), round 1, 3:16

• Josh Hokit Certainly. Denzel Freeman – TKO (strikes), round 1, 4:59

• Ty Miller Certainly. Adam Fugitt – TKO, round 1, 4:59