The UFC is shifting to a post-pay-per-view model with Paramount+, featuring two championship bouts. One title fight is highly anticipated, while the other is a bit of a surprise.
UFC 324, scheduled for January 24 in Las Vegas, will showcase an interim lightweight title match between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett. Interestingly, this will occur without the reigning champion, Ilya Topuria, who won’t be competing. Additionally, women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison will defend her title against Amanda Nunes, a Hall of Famer and former two-division champion.
UFC CEO Dana White shared these details during NFL halftime, announcing it as part of the broadcast on CBS while the Kansas City Chiefs faced the Dallas Cowboys.
“This card is stacked, and every fight will be a must-see,” White remarked in a statement from the UFC.
The decision to create an interim title in the lightweight division is somewhat unexpected since Topuria, who recently vacated the featherweight championship to claim the lightweight title in June, isn’t known to have any injury—often a common reason for interim belts.
Gaethje, a former interim champion with 21 finishes in his career, will face Liverpool’s rising talent, Pimblett, who has 17 finishes. The winner is set to face Topuria for the undisputed title in late 2026, White indicated.
This announcement follows the impressive win by Arman Tsarukyan, currently the number one ranked lightweight, over Dan Hooker, marking Tsarukyan’s return after a health scare that caused him to withdraw before a title fight against Islam Makhachev.
In terms of rankings, Gaethje and Pimblett sit at No. 4 and No. 5 in the UFC’s rankings in the lightweight category.
The bout between Harrison and Nunes has been highly anticipated, dating back to their time as teammates at American Top Team. The drama heightened after Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, captured the title at 135 pounds against Juliana Peña in June.
Nunes, known as a legend in women’s MMA, was inducted into the Hall of Fame shortly after Harrison’s championship win. She came out of a two-year retirement to compete again and previously held both the bantamweight and featherweight titles simultaneously. Although she planned a return in late 2025, it now appears she’ll be waiting a bit longer for her next match.
“I’m going to be champion again and defend my belt,” Nunes stated in a past interview.
Following Harrison’s victory, Nunes had a lighthearted exchange in the Octagon, setting the stage for what White describes as “possibly the biggest women’s fight of all time.”
More UFC 324 matchups have also been revealed:
- Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong (bantamweight)
- Waldo Cortez Acosta vs. Derrick Lewis (heavyweight)
- Arnold Allen vs. Jean Silva (featherweight)
- Alexa Grasso vs. Rose Namajunas (women’s flyweight)
- Ateva Gauthier vs. Andrei Pryaev (middleweight)
Additional fights are expected to be announced leading up to the event.
This UFC event will, notably, be the first since UFC 140 in December 2011 to stream the main card starting at 9 p.m. ET, which is earlier than the traditional start time. All matches, including preliminaries starting at 7 p.m. and early prelims at 5 p.m., will air on Paramount+ at no extra cost for subscribers.
“This new deal, which moves away from pay-per-view, is a significant advantage for our fans,” White commented.
Tickets for UFC 324: Gaethje vs. Pimblett will go on sale December 12 at 10 a.m. PT.
