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Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash

Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash

Saturday, 13th December marked the end of the ESPN era for the UFC. Brandon Royval and Manel Kape headlined the fight night card in Las Vegas, the 296th and final UFC eventwith ESPN as the broadcast partner, and more significantly, the final Pay Per View event for the UFC.

On the 11th of August 2025, Dana White, the UFC’s CEO, signed a 7-year deal with Paramount to become the UFC’s new broadcasting partner, worth a total of $7.7 billion, or $1.1 billion per year. The biggest news of the deal, however, was that all 13 ‘numbered’ UFC events per year would be included with a standard Paramount plus subscription, at no extra cost to users.

The ‘Paramount era’ kicks off this weekend at UFC 324, and they are certainly putting together an incredible show.
Headlining the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is Liverpool’s fan favourite Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett, getting his first title shot against UFC icon Justin Gaethje for the interim UFC Lightweight title. Pimblett returns to the Octagon for the first time since his impressive third round TKO victory over Michael Chandler in April 2025, taking his UFC record to a perfect 7-0.

Since his debut in the UFC in 2021, Paddy immediately became a star name due to his antics outside of the ring, but on Saturday night he is ready to prove that his in the ring skill warrants just as much of that star power.

Local Gym owner, , spoke to me about the effect of having such a well-known English fighter will have on young people fighting in the UK,’ I think it’s brilliant that England have such a huge superstar in the UFC at the moment, it get’s kids watching and interested, and gives them a platform to come to local gyms and get involved themselves.’

‘It’s all good publicity for us, and especially if Paddy can win and bring a UFC event to England with the belt, that will only increase engagement in the MMA and bring more young people to shows and then ultimately to the gym.’

Photo by Steven Cordes on Unsplash - The UFC octagon being set up

Photo by Steven Cordes on Unsplash - The UFC octagon being set up

Newly crowned Lightweight champion, Ilia Topuria, vacated the title in late December due to ongoing personal issues, but has stated that he will be ready to face the winner of Pimblett and Gaethje in the summer of 2026. Ilia and Paddy already have plenty of history, first clashing at a press conference in early 2022, where Pimblett threw a hand sanitiser bottle at Ilia, and then again at the UFC 314 press conference in 2024 where they exchanged a number of insults at each other. Topuria won the belt by knocking out UFC legend Charles Oliveria in June 2025 and immediately called out Pimblett who joined him in the ring where the pair faced off with each other. If Pimblett was the win on Saturday, the fight with Topuria would be one of the biggest in UFC history.

On the other hand, UFC icon Justin Gaethje comes into this fight as one of the biggest fighter in the sports history to never claim undisputed UFC gold, and at 37 years old, this is his final chance to finally become undisputed champion.

Gaethje beat 8^th ranked lightweight Rafel Fiziev in March 2025 to earn his title shot, however Gaethje has lost his last two undisputed title shots against Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveria.

Speaking to ESPN news, former UFC fighter Anthony Smith believes that the fight is going to be close and could go either way, ‘I'll take Gaethje, but I'm not super confident. He really impressed me in his last fight against Fiziev. After losing the first round, Gaethje went to his jab and his fundamentals to get the win. If this were four years ago, I'd pick Gaethje without a doubt. He's got a lot of miles on him now, but I'm still going with Gaethje.’

MMA coach Din Thomas also spoke to ESPN, saying, ‘Pimblett won't be able to take him down without taking punishment. If Justin has his way, he could make it look easy. He has turned the corner in terms of fighting smart, and his coach, Trevor Wittman, is a scientist. Those two are going to have answers for the entire fight.’

How the co-main event shapes up- Credit UFC.com (O'Malley Left Yadong right)

How the co-main event shapes up- Credit UFC.com (O'Malley Left Yadong right)

The co-main event was originally meant to be an exciting fight between the Women’s Bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison, and former champion, and the returning Amanda Nunes. However, due to a neck injury that Harrison sustained during training, the fight was pulled from the card and will take place at a later date.

Taking their place is former Men’s Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, who takes on Song Yadong, with the winner expected to take on champion Petr Yan.

O’Malley is coming off back-to-back defeats to former champion Merab Dvalishvili, so a win against Yadong will be crucial in him getting back into the title picture.

Also on the main card is fellow Englishman Arnold ‘Almighty’ Allen, who is returning to the octagon for the first time since July 2024. He takes on the exciting Brazilian, Jean Silva, who was 5-0 in the UFC before being dealt his first loss in the promotion to Diego Lopes in September.

CBS Combat sport writer Shakiel Mahjouri on predicted on CBS’s YouTube that, ‘Either the defensive guy (Allen) is going to take it to a decision, or the aggressive thrower (Silva) is going to get Allen out of the octagon in the first or second round, but either way I think this is a great fight and a potential fight of the night contender.’

Buzz News reporter Nico Theodorou with Arnold Allen in 2022.

Buzz News reporter Nico Theodorou with Arnold Allen in 2022.

The rest of the main card consists of Heavyweight legend Derrick Lewis taking on 2025 fighter of the year contender Waldo Cortes Acosta in a potential title eliminator, whilst former Women’s flyweight champion Rose Namajunas takes on Natalia Silva.

The last fight on the Preliminary rounds also throws up a potential fight of the night contender in the Bantamweight division, with former Flyweight champion Deivison Figueredo facing off with former title contender Umar Nurmagomedov.

Here’s the card in full:

Main Card

Justin Gaethje vs Paddy Pimblett

Sean O’Malley vs Song Yadong

Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs Derrick Lewis

Natalia Silva vs Rose Namajunas

Arnold Allen vs Jean Silva

Preliminary Card

Umar Nurmagomedov vs Deiveson Figeiredo

Ateba Gautier vs Andrey Pulyaev

Nikita Krylov vs Modestas Bukauskas

Alex Perez vs Charles Johnson

Early Prelims

Michael Johnson vs Alexander Hernandez

Josh Hokit vs Denzel Freeman

Ricky Turcios vs Cameron Smotherman

Adam Fugitt vs Ty Miller

The card takes place in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the Prelims kicking off at midnight on Saturday night and the main card starting at 2am on Sunday.