Paddy Pimblett could be back in title contention with a win over Benoit St. Denis at UFC 329, especially after engaging in a five-round war with future lightweight champion Justin Gaethje back in January.
Despite the loss, Pimblett proved he can fight the best of the best at 155 pounds, and considering he survived 25 minutes with Gaethje while Ilia Topuria failed to make it past the fourth round just adds another tick in his column. However, Pimblett has openly stated that he knows it will likely take a win on Saturday and at least one more before the UFC puts him out there again against Gaethje.
As for other viable contenders for the belt, Pimblett laughed off the suggestion of title challenger Arman Tsarukyan being considered after he has been out of action since October 2025 with no end in sight to his lengthy layoff.
“He needs to fight,” Pimblett said during UFC 329 media day on Wednesday. “He’s had about one fight in three years and he beat an absolute bum. He needs to actually fight. Not walk around in a tank top tickling people.”
Of course, Pimblett referenced Tsarukyan’s last win, which came against Dan Hooker in a lopsided game, his fifth straight win overall. He also aimed to ensure that Tsarukyan’s biggest activities took place in the RAF rather than in the UFC, where he had become a mainstay in promoting freestyle wrestling.
In fact, Tsarukyan is set to compete Saturday at the RAF tournament in Georgia and then return to the United States a week later to face Colby Covington in Milwaukee. But neither of those matches will happen in the UFC, which is Pimblett’s biggest disappointment with Tsarukyan when he’s mentioned as a top lightweight contender.
“(Fight) anyone. Just fight someone,” Pimblett told Tsarukyan. “Get in the octagon and fight for real. Stop driving around in your private jet and eating food.”
As for his own fight, Pimblett is confident he will defeat St. Denis on Saturday and take the necessary step forward to eventually face Gaethje again in the future.
Pimblett said he learned a valuable lesson from that first fight – “don’t go to war with Justin Gaethje” – but he also knows there were mitigating factors working against him that night.
“I’m not going to use this as an excuse, but the eye poke really changed the fight a lot,” Pimblett said. “The damage to my face was caused by a blow to the eye with my right hand.
“It wasn’t just a poke in the eye. I felt his thumb touch my brain. So it was a little heavy. I couldn’t see for two rounds after that.”
However, Pimblett praised Gaethje for the win and for coming out to fight and defeating Topuria to win the undisputed title. Now he’s just hoping he gets a second shot at Gaethje in the near future.
“Obviously, with him winning and being overall champion, it looks good to me,” Pimblett said. “I said after he beat me, I said he was going to beat Ilya Topuria. I said it was destiny that he beat me. His destiny was to win the title in the White House. I was just getting in the way.”