Justin Gaethje on Saturday night opened the Paramount era with a bang, dominating rising star Paddy Pimblett to win the interim UFC lightweight title by unanimous decision at UFC 324 at T-Mobile Arena.
Gaethje’s win gave him his second career interim lightweight championship and sets up a unification title fight against 70kg champion Ilia Topuria, who stepped away in November last year amid mounting personal issues, but is expected to return at some point this year.
Thirty-seven-year-old Gaethje (27-5-0) largely controlled the bout, landing 56 percent of his significant strikes while succeeding on all three of his takedown attempts. He finished ahead on the judges’ scorecards 49-46, 49-46, 48-47.
Photo: AP
“You can’t have that mentality [Pimblett has] when you come in here,” Gaethje said. “He needs to accept the worst possible outcome. That’s how you perform your best, when the pressure is the highest. I learned that early. It’s such a crazy sport, so I knew it was going to happen.”
Gaethje and Pimblett waged a physical and bloody fight.
UFC CEO and President Dana White said that Pimblett was sent to a hospital, but that Gaethje refused to go.
“I wanted that belt, but there’s no other man I would rather lose to,” Pimblett said. “For me, it’s the idea of someone I’ve loved watching growing up watching the UFC. It shows why he’s a legend right there.”
The loss was Pimblett’s first in UFC since joining from his native England, snapping a nine-fight winning streak and dropping him to 23-4-0 in his career, 7-1 in the UFC. Still, the resiliency the 31-year-old showed by putting on a five-round show with the company’s most notorious bomber saved his stock from falling too far with the loss.
“I’ve been here and done this too many times to try to think that it’s over, he’s quitting,” Gaethje said. “This guy was trying to hurt me the whole time. If I took my foot off the pedal for a second, he was on my ass, and he did a good job up until the last second. I really wanted to finish him.”
Sean O’Malley, one of the company’s biggest stars, ended a two-fight losing skid in the co-main event with a controversial unanimous decision victory over bantamweight Song Yadong of China.
The first two rounds both could have arguably gone to Song, but the third round made all the difference on the cards as O’Malley (19-3-0) finished strong with a convincing third round against the 28-year-old Song (22-9-1), which proved to be the difference.
Additional reporting by AP
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
The civil war engulfing tennis has been laid bare on the opening day of the first Grand Slam event this year, with details of Tennis Australia’s peace deal with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) published for the first time. The PTPA last year launched an anti-trust lawsuit against the four grand slam tournaments, the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, and the International Tennis Federation, accusing them of collaborating to reduce prize money, impose a restrictive ranking system and repress player promotional opportunities, but Tennis Australia was dropped from the claim last month after reaching a settlement agreement with the players’
RSS