Paddy Pimblett is confident in his preparations ahead of UFC 324.

Pimblett has had to make some sacrifices ahead of the biggest fight of his career later this month.

On January 24, he will face Justin Gaethje in the main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the interim lightweight title.

With Dana White recently speaking about the winner facing Ilia Topuria once the champion is ready to compete again, the first event of 2026 could have huge implications for the rest of the year.

‘The Baddy’ believes that one key element of his training camp for UFC 324 will allow him to make a statement.

Paddy Pimblett believes his teammate Luke Riley is a better striker than Justin Gaethje

Paddy Pimblett’s training camp has seen him lose his ‘King of the Mat’ title as he prepares for his first UFC main event.

‘The Baddy’ told The MMA Guru during a recent interview that he believes that he’s got a ‘sneaky suspicion’ that he’ll knock Justin Gaethje out on January 24.

This confidence in his striking partly comes from the rounds he’s done with a striker that rates higher than his next opponent.

Pimblett went crazy after his teammate Luke Riley won his UFC debut last November with a stunning knockout at the start of the second round.

“I’ve been doing a lot of rounds with Luke Riley for this camp and Luke’s got much better technical striking than Justin Gaethje and I’m having a lot of success sparring with Luke,” Pimblett said.

When questioned on it, he doubled down that he believes Riley is a superior striker to Gaethje due to his experience in this area.

“Luke Riley’s been fighting Muay Thai in Thailand since he was eight years old,” Pimblett recalled. “When Justin Gaethje was wrestling, Luke was fighting Thai and then doing amateur boxing. Luke’s striking is a class above and people are gonna see it over the next couple of years. He’s the striking version of me.”

Paddy Pimblett questioned Justin Gaethje’s choice of sparring partners

Paddy Pimblett went on to argue that people underestimate his training partners because they’re not in the UFC.

This isn’t the case in Justin Gaethje’s camp, as he was seen being submitted by Kamaru Usman who he’s trained alongside for some time now.

‘The Highlight’ has also been getting in work with rising UFC lightweight Fares Ziam, who is taller than Pimblett and uses his range very well.

Pimblett, however, believes that neither of these fighters will be effective at replicating what he does well.

“It makes me laugh, it’s the second person now that’s got Kamaru Usman in to be a sparring partner for me when Kamaru Usman is nothing like me,” he said while speaking to The MMA Guru. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s one of the best welterweights of all time, but he’s nothing like me.”