Paddy Pimblett believes Justin Gaethje will dethrone UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira 

Justin Gaethje is likely to be the next challenger for Charles Oliveria's lightweight throne in 2022. UFC newcomer Paddy Pimblett believes that 'The Highlight' will become champion, and is capable of taking on all comers. According to Pimblett, Oliveira's submission skills will be rendered useless against Justin Gaethje as he won't be able to take 'The Highlight' to the ground. 'Baddy' is confident that Gaethje will be able to successfully defend his title against top contenders like Beneil Dariush and Islam Makhachev.

Paddy Pimblett also predicted a title shot for Dustin Poirier as he holds a previous win over Justin Gaethje. Asked who will be champion at the end of the year, the 'Baddy' said:

"I thinks it's gonna be Justin Gaethje. I really like Charles Oliveira. He's brilliant, I mean he's very good. But I just can't see Gaethje going to the ground with him at all. Can't see him being able to take Gaethje down. So I can see Gaethje beating him. And then I can see Gaethje beating [Beneil] Dariush or [Islam] Makhachev or whoever's next in line. Or [Dustin] Poirier, he'll probably get another shot at the belt because he's beat Gaethje before."

Watch Paddy Pimblett's Q&A session on YouTube below:

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The beef between Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira recently blasted Justin Gaethje for a seemingly fake show of respect after UFC 269. According to Oliveira, Gaethje pays him respect when they meet only to talk "crap" after turning his back.

The UFC lightweight king said in a Portuguese podcast hosted on MMAFighting:

"[Justin Gaethje] is talking a bunch of crap all the time, and when we meet face to face, he says he has all the respect for me and what I do and two minutes later, he’s saying he will break my face… These guys hype things up and try to sell the fight with something that they are not."

Justin Gaethje replied to Oliveira claiming that his respect was as real as his intention to break the face of 'Do Bronx'. Gaethje wrote on Twitter:

“@CharlesDoBronxs it’s called respect you fool and we are in the breaking faces business. My respect that night was just as real as my intention to take everything from you in your country @ufc#uhvaimorrer”

Justin Gaethje is expected to fight Charles Oliveira sometime in 2022. However, as of now, a date for the fight has yet to be announced.