Paddy Pimblett isn’t done yet, after losing an interim lightweight championship match at UFC 324. While Justin Gaethje’s technique worked for him, Pimblett is now calling for a rematch by highlighting an eye poke that, according to him, cost him the match. While he continued to fight after the eye poke that went unnoticed, he has now brought the incident from the fight to attention.

Pimblett now heads back to the drawing board to fight his way back into title contention. Many from the MMA world called the bout a reality check for the Englishman, as he had walked in full of overconfidence and taken verbal shots at everyone. After the fight, Paddy Pimblett was hospitalized, but he has returned home with bruises around his eye. In a recent appearance, he opened up about what went wrong and called for a rematch.

Paddy Pimblett breaks down exactly what went wrong at UFC 324

“Everyone thought my face was a mess. This is only a week out from the fight. My face is sound, I’ve got a little bit of bruising. The only thing what’s wrong with me is my eyeballs off fingernails, scratching my eyeballs, but, you know, we get on with it. I’ve had a nice little week of chilling,” said Paddy Pimblett in his latest appearance.

Meanwhile, most of the MMA world focused on 37-year-old Justin Gaethje dominating 31-year-old Paddy Pimblett, but the footage actually shows ‘The Highlight’ unintentionally poked ‘The Baddy’ in the eye during the first round amid heavy exchanges and wild shots.

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Later, near the end of round one, the referee briefly stopped the fight after Pimblett complained and gave Justin Gaethje a stern warning not to repeat it, but the damage was already done. Now, Pimblett wants to settle the score with Gaethje in the near future.

“Even though I don’t think he’s got too many fights left, hopefully we can run it back in the future, because the things in that fight would have pissed me off. But, you know, we get on with it. It’s done now. There’s nothing we can do. There’s nothing we can go back and change. I just hope that in the future, he can step up and have a rematch with me,” said Paddy Pimblett via his YouTube channel.

From the start, he struggled with takedowns, which Demetrious Johnson also pointed out. Because of the eye poke, Paddy Pimblett couldn’t fully execute his game plan against Justin Gaethje. On top of that, limited visibility during key moments reduced his effectiveness.

In fact, there were two eye pokes!

Paddy Pimblett entered the fight as the clear fan favorite, with critics, analysts, and fellow fighters praising his youth, undefeated UFC record, and strong ground game. However, Justin Gaethje upended all expectations and completely overturned the oddsmakers’ predictions. In fact, he controlled the fight with his strategy, carefully avoiding overusing leg kicks.

Now, weeks after the bout, the eye poke controversy is drawing attention, creating a highly sensitive issue that adds to the scrutiny the promotion already faces. Interestingly, reports now reveal that Gaethje actually hit Paddy Pimblett with two eye pokes, a point also highlighted by British broadcaster Nick Peet.

“When you look back, the eye poke in round one. Okay, Justin got a warning for it, but there was a really bad thumb poke in round two. Everybody missed it,” Nick Peet said. “We saw Paddy react, he went down with it, and we all missed it. It was only on the replay at the end of round two that you can see Justin throw a left hand and the thumb goes right into Paddy’s eye.”

Eye pokes have been a controversial point of discussion for UFC after Tom Aspinall wasn’t able to continue his match against Ciryl Gane after multiple eye pokes affected his vision. After the incident, referee Herb Dean mentioned deducting a point in case of eye pokes, but that did not happen in the UFC 324 main event. With ‘Baddy’ losing the bout, he will have to get some wins to get another title shot.

Right now, Paddy Pimblett isn’t chasing the title. Instead, he wants a chance to prove himself against Gaethje. So, if they meet again in the near future, can the Liverpudlian claim revenge? Drop your prediction below.