Paddy Pimblett is feeling confident in the way he’s prepared for UFC 324.
The Scouse lightweight has even decided to spend the holiday season away from home, travelling to America early with his coaches.
After putting a lot of effort into this fight camp, Pimblett has made it clear he believes there’s something about this training that will help him stand out.
In an interview with TNT Sports, he highlighted what was different about this build-up compared to previous ones:
“I stayed in America longer than I normally do. Usually I come over here for two weeks, three weeks max. Whereas now I’ve been here for nearly five.”
Pimblett wasn’t drawn into talking about what might happen after UFC 324. He’s fully focused on Justin Gaethje and isn’t getting distracted by anything else.
Paddy Pimblett claims Luke Riley is a superior striker than Justin Gaethje
Paddy Pimblett says his camp has led to him losing his ‘King of the Mat’ title as he gets ready for his first UFC main event.
Speaking to The MMA Guru, ‘The Baddy’ shared that he thinks there’s a good chance he’ll knock out Justin Gaethje on January 24.
That confidence in his striking has been helped by the time spent training with someone he rates even higher than Gaethje in that area.
“I’ve been doing a lot of rounds with Luke Riley for this camp and Luke’s got much better technical striking than Justin Gaethje and I’m having a lot of success sparring with Luke,” Pimblett said.
He went further when asked about it, backing Riley to be better equipped in this area due to his training background.
“Luke Riley’s been fighting Muay Thai in Thailand since he was eight years old,” Pimblett recalled. “When Justin Gaethje was wrestling, Luke was fighting Thai and then doing amateur boxing. Luke’s striking is a class above and people are gonna see it over the next couple of years. He’s the striking version of me.”
Paddy Pimblett raises doubts over Justin Gaethje’s choice of sparring partners
Pimblett went on to suggest that people overlook his training partners because they’re not part of the UFC, even though he feels they offer valuable preparation.
In contrast, Gaethje has been working with Kamaru Usman, a familiar training partner and former welterweight champion.
‘The Highlight’ has also been putting in time with Fares Ziam, who is a rising UFC lightweight and known for using his height and reach effectively.
But Pimblett doesn’t think either fighter is particularly well-suited to preparing Gaethje for their upcoming matchup.
“It makes me laugh, it’s the second person now that’s got Kamaru Usman in to be a sparring partner for me when Kamaru Usman is nothing like me,” he said while speaking to The MMA Guru. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s one of the best welterweights of all time, but he’s nothing like me.”
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