The tap came fast, faster than the fight had any right to end, and for a second, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas didn’t seem to know what to do with itself. Then it caught up. Paddy Pimblett was up on the cage before the referee had fully separated them, screaming into a crowd that was screaming right back, and Benoit Saint-Denis was still on the canvas processing what had just happened to him. The Baddy had promised to finish BSD, and he duly delivered, securing arguably the biggest win of his career thus far.
Online betting sites actually made Pimblett a betting underdog heading into the Sin City showdown. Outlets such as the popular Lucky Rebel Sportsbook listed him as long as +114, with Saint-Denis the narrow -125 frontrunner. But when the Frenchman shot for a takedown attempt just seconds into round one, he immediately fell into Pimblett’s trap. But it’s not just the impressive manner of the victory that makes this one so seismic.
Pimblett and Gaethje Reshape the Lightweight Division
Back in January at UFC 324, the interim lightweight title was on the line when Paddy the Baddy stepped into the cage against American veteran Justin Gaethje — and there was no rewiring anything that night. Pimblett didn’t lose a competitive decision so much as get systematically dismantled for five rounds, outboxed at range, outworked in the clinch, made to look a step behind a fight that never really let him find one. It was the kind of fight that gets a fighter written off, the kind where the murmurs start about whether he was ever really elite to begin with.
Then, at UFC Freedom 250, Pimblett realized that maybe a defeat to Gaethje isn’t so bad after all. That victory secured the Highlight an undisputed lightweight title clash opposite the unbeaten 17-0 Ilia Topuria, a man who had knocked out each of Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira in consecutive fights. Despite being a 4/1 underdog, Gaethje battered the undefeated champion for four straight rounds until El Matador quit on his stool, crowning him the new lightweight king and somehow removing any shame from Pimblett and the defeat he suffered at the newly minted champ’s hands.
So, the question now is, what’s next? The 155-pound division is suddenly wide open, and after the most impressive win of his career, Pimblett is once again in the mix. But who should he fight next? Here are what we feel are the three most exciting options.
@luckyrebel_ #UFC329’s co-main event lasted literally two minutes. 🤯 #UFC #MMA #ConorMcGregor #MaxHolloway ♬ original sound – Lucky Rebel
Ilia Topuria
There’s a particular kind of danger in a 17-0 fighter tasting defeat for the first time, and it isn’t really about the loss itself. It’s about what Ilia Topuria does now with the fact that he’s considered mortal. His résumé before Gaethje was terrifying: knockouts of Volkanovski and Holloway at featherweight, then a run through Oliveira to take the lightweight title. But just how much damage has that brutal stoppage loss to Gaethje truly done?
When Pimblett was slated to face Gaethje for the interim lightweight title back in January, it appeared that the UFC was attempting to set up Topuria vs Pimblett for the undisputed gold. Then, the Highlight beat both of them handily. Now, the UFC has its chance to book Topuria vs Pimblett again, only this time without the title on the line. That’s the obvious fight to book next for both men, with the winner getting their shot at redemption against the newly crowned king.
Justin Gaethje Rematch
Gaethje doesn’t owe Pimblett anything, and that’s the whole leverage problem right there. He’s the undisputed champion now, having unified the belt on the back of the most dominant performance of his career against Topuria. Why hand a rematch to a guy he already beat comfortably, when other names are circling — fresher styles, bigger paydays, less risk of doing the same thing twice for no additional reward?
But Pimblett’s case isn’t nothing. Getting outboxed for five rounds and coming back seven months later with a finish is exactly the kind of evolution a promotion loves to sell, and Gaethje knows better than anyone that styles change fast in this division — he’s lived both sides of that lesson already. A rematch lets Pimblett argue he’s not the fighter who got beaten in January. Whether Gaethje sees enough in that argument to risk it first is the real question.
Max Holloway
Call it a showcase fight if you want, but look closer and there’s a gatekeeper test buried inside it. Max Holloway was on the same card as Pimblett at UFC 329, headlining the show and stopping Conor McGregor with a first-round leg injury TKO. The “fight,” if you can call it that, left a lot to be desired, but now Blessed officially holds a stoppage victory over the biggest box office star in MMA history on his resume. That holds weight.
His last five aren’t bad either: a loss to Oliveira, a win over Dustin Poirier, a knockout loss to Topuria, a savage knockout win over Gaethje, and now McGregor. Holloway’s not a stepping stone by any means. He’s a measuring stick, and measuring sticks have a habit of ending careers that were supposed to be ascending.
