Paddy Pimblett is fighting Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title, a five-round headliner that kicks off the promotion’s billion-dollar streaming deal on Paramount+. But is “The Baddy” doing enough to promote the UFC 324 headliner, which pops off this Sat. night (Jan. 24, 2026) from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas?
That depends on who you ask.
“It’s Chubby Paddy fight week but I’m doing the press run,” No. 1-ranked lightweight contender, Arman Tsarukyan, wrote on Instagram. “Wake up fatass and get to work. It’s not a good look for the UFC.”
Especially since the fight is “garbage” to begin with.
“It’s a garbage fight,” former UFC welterweight, Matt Brown, told MMA Fighting. “This is a co-main event fight on probably a big card or something. This is a co-main event, No. 1 contender fight after Arman and Ilia [Topuria] fight. That’s what it should be.”
To be fair, garbage belongs in a “trash can.”
“If it’s not as clear as day with this situation as it could ever be that UFC is entertainment and not sport, I don’t know what to tell you,” Brown added. “This fight is an entertainment fight. This is not a sport fight. No one was begging to see Pimblett and Gaethje. When you look at the numbers, why do we have rankings?”
Blame the “clowns” behind the scenes.
Tsarukyan has beef with the lightweight “punching bag” after UFC went full WWE. That said, “Ahalkalakets” continues to be his own worst enemy and probably would have been headlining all the big cards if he wasn’t beating up UFC fans, bailing on main events, and head-butting opponents at weigh ins.
The 29 year-old Tsarukyan (23-3) is expected to make his Octagon return at some point later this year.
