Justin Gaethje had a surprising history with one man he’s shared the UFC Octagon with.
The man widely considered the most exciting fighter in the UFC will kick off a new era for MMA’s leading promotion this Saturday, when he headlines the very first event on Paramount+.
Gaethje will fight Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 for a newly created interim lightweight title. ‘The Baddy’ has expressed a bold plan to knock out ‘The Highlight’, something that has been done by only Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, and Eddie Alvarez inside the cage thus far.
But they aren’t the only big names to connect hard with Gaethje, who was apparently the victim of another KO that is not visible on his record.
Justin Gaethje says he was KO’d by Donald Cerrone years before joining the UFC
‘The Highlight’ earned his title fight against Tony Ferguson by getting the better of Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC Vancouver in September 2019.
Gaethje stopped Cerrone via TKO in just over four minutes. While the result did not avenge an MMA loss, it did get the former WSOF champion some form of payback.
Ahead of that fight, Gaethje revealed he was KO’d by Cerrone — a 2023 inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame Modern Wing — during a training session before he turned pro.
“He knocked me out…he dropped me in sparring,” Gaethje said during an interview with MMA Junkie.
“I don’t even know if I had a pro fight at the time. I was a kid then and a man now.
“I’m excited to get in there and give him back that one,” he added.
And ‘give him back that one’ is exactly what Gaethje did.
Paddy Pimblett may play into Justin Gaethje’s hands at UFC 324
Gaethje was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in his first undisputed title shot before falling to the same fate against Charles Oliveira two years later.
With those results in mind, many are predicting Pimblett’s elite jiu-jitsu to be key in the Scouser getting the better of ‘The Highlight’ at UFC 324.
‘The Baddy’, however, has rejected any notion that he will simply look to take his title rival down.
Pimblett outlined a surprising strategy for fighting Gaethje ahead of this Saturday’s debut event on Paramount+.
“Everyone’s gonna be shocked, to be honest, because I think I’m gonna knock him out,” Pimblett told Red Corner MMA.
“So people won’t expect that. People think I’m just gonna try to grapple and take him down, but I’m not. I’m gonna come out and I’m gonna put it on him.
“I don’t see him getting past the third (round), just like Chandler,” he added.