UFC 324 Review - The Beginning of the Paramount+ Era

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A New Era

2026 marked a new beginning for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC): after a long stint on ESPN/ESPN+, UFC programming will be broadcast on Paramount+ for the next seven years. This will include not only Fight Nights but also numbered UFC events, which means no more Pay-per-View, saving the devoted fans a good chunk of money. Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) and The Ultimate Fighter reality series will also be available on the streaming platform.

UFC 324 was the first event to air on Paramount+, and the UFC made sure to stack the fight card. The initially announced line-up rarely makes it intact to the fight night, and UFC 324 was no exception. The co-main event was supposed to feature Kayla Harrison defending her shiny new title against the returning ‘Lioness’ Amanda Nunes. Unfortunately, Harrison had injured her neck and had to undergo surgery, postponing the fight until further notice.

Two more fights were dropped from the card on the day before the event. First, Cameron Smotherman collapsed after successfully making weight, cancelling his fight with Ricky Turcois. Then, a lightweight bout between Michael Johnson and Alexander Hernandez was pulled from the card, just hours before the event. No official reason was given, but it was later confirmed by Dana White that the cancellation was related to unusual betting activity.

Another change was announced by White for 2026. Going forward, the ‘Fight of the Night‘ and ‘Performance of the Night’ awards would be doubled, from $50k to $100k. In addition, any fighter who secured a finish but was not selected for one of the ‘of the night’ awards would receive an $25k bonus. This should lead to more action-packed fights and improve the often-complained-about fighter pay.

Prelims

The first two prelims of the card both ended by TKO, with 1 second left in the first round. What an unlikely coincidence. We got the obligatory post-fight promo from Josh Hokit – stolen almost word-for-word from Chael Sonnen, who in turn stole it from some professional wrestler. The next two fights also ended in knockouts, while the two top-billed prelims (Umar Nurmagomedov vs Deiveson Figueredo and Ateba Gautier vs Andrey Pulyaev) went the distance to unanimous decision.

My biggest complaint about the card so far was the overwhelming amount of commercials. I understand that Paramount has to make money somehow, but showing commercials in between rounds and during fighter walk-outs seems like too much. I was hoping they would cut back on the ads during the main card; alas, that was not the case.

Main Card

To be honest, the main card somewhat disappointed. Four of the five fights went the distance, with the single TKO coming from the Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs Derrick Lewis fight, in which it seems like Lewis just gassed and gave up without taking any damage. ‘Thug Rose’ Namajunas vs Natalia Silva was rather uneventful, and the most exciting moment in the Jean Silva vs Arnold Allen fight was Silva surfing on Allen’s back. Seriously.

Sean O’Malley vs Song Yadong was a fairly competitive fight, with Song starting out strong but running out of steam by the third round. With the win, O’Malley may be the next in line for a title shot. This primarily depends on who wins the rubber match between the current bantamweight champion, Petr Ya,n and the previous champ Merab Dvalishvili. Should Merab prevail, he will likely rematch Umar; if Yan defends his title, then O’Malley is more likely to rematch Yan.

In the main event, Justin Gaethje took on Paddy Pimblett for the Interim Lightweight Title. The fight was entertaining despite being one-sided. While Justin was a betting underdog, he came on strong from the opening bell, hurting Paddy with a body shot early in the first round. Gaethje scored a knockdown shortly thereafter and several more throughout the fight to have his hand raised and earn his second interim title. Pimblett showed great heart and a deep gas tank, but did not show that he belongs at the elite tier of the division.

Aftermath

Once again, we have two champions in the lightweight division: the undisputed Ilia Topuria (whose undisputed status is somewhat questionable now) and the interim champion Justin Gaethje. I am not including Max Holloway and his made-up BMF title. Of course, a title unification fight would make the most sense, but it is unknown how long Ilia will be out of action. If it ends up being an extended period, Gaethje may have no choice but to defend the interim belt. Arman Tsarukyan is the rightful #1 contender, but with the talk of Dustin Poirier wanting to come out of retirement for a Gaethje rubber match, I could see the UFC making this bout instead. When did they ever care about rankings and merit?