Justin Gaethje batters Paddy Pimblett to win title at UFC 324

Paddy Pimblett earned the respect of just about anyone who watched him survive five rounds against Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC 324 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

But it was Gaethje who earned the interim lightweight title for dishing out that punishment in the headliner of the organization’s first event of a new seven-year deal with Paramount+ as the UFC moved from a pay-per-view model to streaming its premium cards.

Gaethje knocked Pimblett down and nearly finished the fight in the opening minute and kept up the pressure much of the night, but Pimblett just kept coming back at him.

“I didn’t know Paddy Pimblett had a chin like that until tonight,” UFC president Dana White said. “What a dogfight, what a war.”

A bloodied Pimblett wouldn’t go away and even found some success over the second half of the bout, but Gaethje was relentless.

“I went away from the game plan by trying to kill him, as usual,” Gaethje said. “He can’t get put to sleep, obviously. I mean, I smoked him.”

Gaethje won 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 on the scorecards to hand Pimblett his first UFC loss in eight appearances in the cage.

“I wanted to leave with that belt so badly,” Pimblett said in the cage before he was transported to the hospital. “But there’s nobody I’d rather lose to than that man.

“You live and you learn. I’ll be back better.”

O’Malley back on track

In the co-main event, popular former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley put together a strong third round to salvage a unanimous decision victory over Song Yadong.

O’Malley, who had lost back-to-back title fights to Merab Dvalishvili entering Saturday night, called for a shot at the winner of an expected title bout rematch between Dvalishvil and Petr Yan.

He nearly didn’t get the chance as he struggled for much of the night with Yadong. O’Malley edged out the first round before Yadong clearly controlled the second.

The third round was fairly even before O’Malley pulled away down the stretch.

“God, it feels good to win,” he said. “I hate losing.”

A matchup of heavyweight sluggers Derrick Lewis and Waldo Cortes-Acosta provided a knockout as expected even if it didn’t come in the traditional manner.

Lewis slipped to the mat midway through the second round and was laid out on his back. Cortes-Acosta approached cautiously at first before pouncing when he realized Lewis wasn’t putting up much resistance. He landed a series of right hands before the fight was stopped.

Featherweights Jean Silva and Arnold Allen put on a much more competitive show in the first main card fight of the Paramount+ era, trading wild exchanges over the course of three rounds.

Silva did enough to get the nod on all three scorecards as the fighters shared an emotional moment in the cage.

“This is a real dude right here,” Silva said through a translator. “We prepare as a team to be here for a three-round war. I wanted to knock him out so badly and my team kept saying, ‘Wait for it, wait for the moment.’ It’s very hard to fight someone who is an idol of yours. I really admire the guy.”

Top women’s flyweight contender Natalia Silva couldn’t generate much offense, but completely neutralized former strawweight champ Rose Namajunas on her way to a unanimous decision victory.

Silva improved to 8-0 in the UFC.

“I am so grateful and sorry today,” she said through a translator. “This was not my best moment. God knows how hard it was for me to be here now. A lot of people were putting me as a very heavy favorite, but Rose is an amazing athlete. I was facing the toughest fight of my life.”

Preliminary card

Top bantamweight contender Umar Nurmagomedov won all three rounds to cruise to a unanimous decision victory over former two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, who missed weight by 2.5 pounds Friday.

It was the headlining bout of the preliminary card.

Rising prospect Ateba Gautier consistently found a home for his powerful right hand, but struggled to follow it up with anything else and had to settle for a decision victory over Andrey Pulyaev.

It was the first time Gautier has been out of the first round in the UFC as he improved to 4-0 in the organization.

Nikita Krylov stopped Modestas Bukauskas with just three seconds remaining in the third and final round of a light heavyweight bout.

Flyweight Alex Perez knocked out his former roommate and training partner Charles Johnson in the first round.

“I don’t like having to hit a friend,” Perez said. “But we have a job to do. We both understood that. It’s all respect.”

The first two fights of the Paramount+ era both ended with one second remaining in the first round.

Ty Miller stopped Adam Fugitt at 4:59 of the first round in the first UFC bout ever on the streaming platform by following up a knee with several punches right before the bell.

Josh Hokit, a former Fresno State tight end who was on the 49ers practice squad, battered Denzel Freeman throughout the opening frame before the fight was mercifully stopped as the first round ended.