Paddy Pimblett doesn’t need to reinvent himself to beat Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324. He doesn’t need to become a different fighter, chase a new identity, or suddenly turn into a grinding technician. According to Chael Sonnen, there’s only one currency that matters against ‘The Highlight’, speed.

And that framing opens a much more interesting question than the usual hype-versus-veteran debate. Because if this fight really comes down to speed, not grit, not toughness, not even grappling, then the blueprint ‘The Baddy’ needs might already exist. It just doesn’t come from Liverpool. It comes from Conor McGregor.

Speaking in a recent video uploaded on his YouTube channel, Sonnen framed the entire matchup around one blunt question. “Yes or no, is Paddy the Baddy faster than Justin Gaethje?” he asked. And then he admitted the uncertainty. “I gotta tell you, I don’t know. When I watch Paddy, I don’t come away going, whoa, that is freakishly fast speed.”

To explain his point, Sonnen reached for a familiar comparison. “When Conor McGregor fights, I come away going, whoa, that dude’s fast.”

That’s the key distinction for him. Speed that jumps off the screen. Sonnen’s thesis is simple and provocative, “I’m sharing with you that if you’re gonna beat Justin Gaethje, you have to be faster than him. Anybody who has ever beaten Justin Gaethje has had that quality. They have not been a better grappler. That’s not what it comes down to. They couldn’t out-condition him, out-experience him, out-grit him.”

The UFC veteran also challenged the idea that Paddy Pimblett’s age automatically favors him. “Paddy the Baddy is not the young guy you think he is,” he said in the video, pointing out that Pimblett is already around 30, not some raw 24-year-old prospect with lightning-fast speed that makes your head spin.

That argument cuts both ways. Gaethje is now 37. He’s absorbed wars with Eddie Alvarez, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, and Max Holloway. Speed erosion doesn’t hit one fighter at a time. And while Gaethje remains explosive, his recent fights show a more measured, defensive version of ‘The Highlight,’ not the reckless storm of his early UFC run.

This is where the Conor McGregor blueprint matters. ‘The Notorious’ didn’t beat elite lightweights by being tougher (although his grit was unquestionable). He beat them by controlling distance, landing first, and leaving before the counter came back. It wasn’t volume. It was timing and speed in bursts.

As such, Paddy Pimblett doesn’t need to become Conor McGregor. But he does need to borrow that principle because he’s already laid out his prediction for how this fight is going to play out!

Paddy Pimblett plans to “knock” Justin Gaethje out at UFC 324

Paddy Pimblett isn’t talking about caution or survival. He’s talking about a collision. And in doing so, he’s putting real weight behind the McGregor-style principle of landing first, even if the setting looks reckless on paper.

Asked how he plans to approach Justin Gaethje at UFC 324, Pimblett made it clear he isn’t tiptoeing around the danger. He recently spoke to Red Corner MMA and said, “I think everyone’s going to be shocked, to be honest, because I think I’m going to knock him out.”

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That alone flips the expected script. Most fans assume Pimblett’s clearest route is grappling. ‘The Baddy’ knows that’s the perception, “People think I’m just going to try to grapple and take him down, but I’m not. I’m going to come out, and I’m going to put it on him. I don’t see him getting past the third, just like Chandler.”

Is that confidence, or is it bravado? That’s the question hanging over this matchup. Gaethje has lived in firefights his entire UFC career. He doesn’t blink when someone stands in front of him and swings. If Paddy Pimblett stands toe-to-toe without the ability to land and exit cleanly, Chael Sonnen’s speed warning becomes very real, very fast.

So the real question isn’t whether Paddy Pimblett is brave enough to stand with Justin Gaethje. It’s whether he can apply that McGregor blueprint under fire? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!