Justin Gaethje revealed the eye-opening message he gave to Paddy Pimblett in the immediate aftermath of his victory at UFC 324.
Gaethje claimed the Interim UFC Lightweight Championship overnight after defeating 'The Baddy' on points in Las Vegas thanks to a unanimous decision from the judges.
The fight went the whole five rounds in the Octagon and Gaethje was declared the winner as the trio of judges scored the fight 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46 in his favour.
It means the 37-year-old's MMA record now stands at 27 wins from 32 matches, 20 of these by knockout, one by submission and six on decision, with five losses to his name.
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Pimblett meanwhile suffered his first defeat in the UFC since joining the franchise back in 2021, with the loss to Gaethje being his fourth overall in his MMA career.
The Liverpudlian's record now stands at 23 wins from 27 matches, with four losses in total, three of which were on decision, including the loss to Gaethje.
Pimblett headed to hospital after the defeat and missed the post-fight press conference, but was graceful in defeat when speaking in the Octagon immediately after the loss.
He said: "There is no man I'd rather lose to than the Highlight; he is someone I loved watching growing up and it shows why he is a legend.
"I think 48-47 was a fair scorecard. I won't lie, he hit me with a body shot in the first round and it got me. I thought I was winning the round up to that point.
"You live and you learn; I'm 31, I will be back better. You haven't seen the last of me."
Immediately after the win in the Octagon, Gaethje was respectful of Pimblett and paid tribute to the 31-year-old, agreeing with this opponent that 'scousers do not get knocked out'.
Despite not getting knocked out, Pimblett was left bloodied and bruised by the end of the encounter with Gaethje.
And in the post-fight press conference, Gaethje revealed what he said to Pimblett immediately after the bout ended as he delivered a brutal riposte to one of his opponent's pre-fight predictions and gave a withering assessment of his 'false confidence'.
He said: "I really wanted to finish him. He said my face was not going to look the same after the fight and that his would look the exact same.
"So as soon as it was over, I was like 'look at your face mother f****r, it does not look the same!'
"He's going to learn from this. You cannot have that mentality when you come in here.
"He needs to accept the worst possible outcome and that's how you perform the best when the pressure is the highest.
"You have to learn these lessons and his mindset going into that fight was not good and you cannot do that like this. False confidence is terrible, it will kill you every time and that's what he had."
Topics: Paddy Pimblett, Justin Gaethje, UFC, MMA
John McDougall