The UFC Paddys Its Paramount Debut
Dana White took advantage of the new CBS alliance to promote UFC 324
It’s good to have an in.
UFC CEO Dana White crashed America’s Thanksgiving traditions to announce the UFC 324 main and co-main events at halftime of the Dallas Cowboys vs Kansas City Chiefs game on CBS.
That’s the kind of perk that comes with a $7.7 billion alliance with the new owners of Paramount, parent company of the Tiffany Network.
CBS Providing a Massive Platform
And for those MMA fans who don’t get the magnitude of the promotional opportunity here, let’s quote the NY Times about the expected viewership for the game:
unless one of the teams is leading by 35 or 40 points at halftime, the easy prediction is that the game will set a record as the most-viewed NFL regular-season game in history. [Note: It was 17-14 at half.]
“It’s the perfect confluence of three of the biggest brands in American culture — the Cowboys, the Chiefs and Thanksgiving,” CBS lead NFL play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz told The Athletic.
The current record was set three Thanksgivings ago, when the Cowboys and Giants drew 42 million viewers in 2022 in a late-afternoon game.
So far, so well played.
But then we must grapple with the fights Dana announced.
Did we get Ilia Topuria, the promotion’s lightweight champ and biggest new star, against a red-hot Arman Tsarukyan, fresh off a dominating win over Dan Hooker?
No.
No, we did not.
Instead, we got an interim lightweight title bout between Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje, with a promise that the winner would challenge Ilia Topuria later in 2026.
UFC Interim Lightweight title match: Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett
UFC Women’s Bantamweight title match: Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes
Men’s Bantamweight: Sean O’Malley vs. Song Yadong
Heavyweight: Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Derrick Lewis
Featherweight: Arnold Allen vs. Jean SilvaLight Heavyweight: Nikita Krylov vs. Modestas Bukauskas
Women’s Flyweight: Alexa Grasso vs. Rose Namajunas
Men’s Bantamweight: Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
Middleweight: Ateba Gautier vs. Andrey Pulyaev
Dana also announced that UFC 325 in Australia will be headlined by Alexander Volkanovski defending his bantamweight title against Diego Lopes for the bantamweight title and that this Australian event will take place a week after UFC 324 in Las Vegas.
Truly, this is a new era.
There’s no defending Diego Lopes getting another title shot when there are multiple more deserving contenders available. But more on that later.
Where In the World Is Ilia Topuria?
Topuria, it turns out, is busy, apparently with a divorce.
Well, that sucks, but it’s not something the promotion can control.
They wanted to feature their hottest star on the biggest platform, but life got in the way, shit happens.
Feeding an aging Justin Gaethje to Paddy “I haven’t beaten any top contenders” Pimblett when Arman Tsarukyan is drawing a fair bit of guff from MMA’s older generation of pundits.
Ariel Helwani said, “Next time you’re told we make the best fights remember this moment… Gaethje/Paddy with Arman ready.”
Luke Thomas said, “This is insane, Arman Tsarukyan erasure. I mean, what are we doing?”
Luke also complained that the Harrison-Nunes bout was more important and should be headlining, although he understands why it’s not.
But The MMA Guru loved it, saying, “This is really, really bad news for Arman Tsarukyan, but really great news for fight fans, but really confusing news because Arman Tsarukyan should be involved, but they’re going with Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett as the main event of the first card back. … But this is an amazing fight. The winner is going to fight Ilia Topuria. No doubt at the White House, and this is absolutely insane matchmaking.”
I’m with the Guru on this one.
This is a chance to get Paddy Pimblett over with a big, new audience on Paramount+ (maybe even on CBS Sports). Most of those fans have no idea Arman Tsarukyan exists, and if the Pimblett-Gaethje fight comes to fruition, there’s a very good chance that Pimblett-Gaethje will be an extremely entertaining fight.
And unlike most women’s title fights, there’s every chance that Harrison vs Nunes will be a very violent bout that goes to a finish and not a decision.
Well played, UFC, well played.
They also announced the main card will start at 9 p.m. ET, an hour earlier than the traditional numbered-event start time, which is a cherry on top of the end of $80 pay-per-views that was announced along with the Paramount+ deal.
But there are some other very serious problems with this decision that are way over MMA Guru’s head.