On January 24, 2026, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, held Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 324. UFC is a mixed martial arts event that happens about two or three times per year. The event consists of the first four fights, which are the Early Prelims, the next four fights are the Preliminary Card, and the final five fights are the Main Card. Some competitors fight to get their name into the UFC world, get themself into contention to win a championship belt, or to win a belt.
The main fight of the night was Paddy Pimblett of Liverpool and Justin Gaethje of the United States. According to Coral Barry of BBC Sports, the fight lasted five rounds, with Gaethje beating out Pimblett in a close match. As the fight came to a close, the scorecard read 48-47 in favor of Justin Gaethje, which Pimblett said was a fair score for the fight. Being able to compete with a fighter like Gaethje for five complete rounds is an accomplishment in itself. With that victory, Gaethje claimed the interim lightweight title for the second time in his career (Barry, 2026). Pimblett should not have any shame for not coming home with the belt because he did something that most experienced fighters could not do. Pimblett survived the five rounds, a feat in itself.
Another highly anticipated fight on the main card was Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong. According to Brent Brookhouse of CBS Sports, “O’Malley entered the night having lost back-to-back championship fights to Merab Dvalishvili.” With O’Malley not competing as he did early in his career, many fans wondered if his time at the top was done before it even started. Sean O’Malley came out with a victory in the third round and is back in contention of capturing a title (Brookhouse, 2026). Sean is going to have to wait for a rematch between Dvalishvili and Petr Yan. “O’Malley already has a split decision win over Yan, so you can only imagine that is his preferred matchup,” said Brookhouse.
The last fight that was on the main card that night was the heavyweight contest between Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Derrick Lewis. This one did not really compare to the others; Cortes-Acosta defeated Lewis by TKO (technical knock out) in the second round. According to ESPN author Andreas Hale, Lewis got tired quickly, and that ended up being a big part of Waldo’s victory. Lewis looked very out of shape all night and got dropped by a light jab from Cortes-Acosta (Hale, 2026).
The night ended competitively in every fight. Gaethje captured a belt, and O’Malley put himself back into title contention with his win. It was still a good night for the losers as well; Pimblett held his own against Gaethje, and Yadong competed with O’Malley for three rounds. Even the fight between Cortes-Acosta and Derrick Lewis demonstrated the importance of preparing for a fight. Fans could tell the veterans to rising stars who were ready to do anything in their power to win, no matter what.
