Jared Gordon says he still sees a path back to Paddy Pimblett, even after Pimblett’s latest fight and even with another test waiting in front of him. Gordon, who was set to meet Jim Miller in a three-round lightweight bout at UFC 328 in Newark on Saturday, said a rematch still makes sense if results line up the right way.
Gordon was asked at media day whether he had watched the Justin Gaethje vs. Pimblett interim title fight at UFC 324, and he did not sugarcoat what he saw. He said both men looked bad, with Gaethje the cleaner striker and Pimblett unable to get the fight to the mat, leaving most of the bout standing. Gordon also said Pimblett is popular and gets pushed by the UFC, but added that it was not a strong showing for either fighter.
That view carries extra weight because Gordon lost a controversial unanimous decision to Pimblett in a previous three-round fight. He has not let that result fade from memory, and he said plainly that if the rematch comes around, he believes he wins it. Pimblett, Gordon noted, is scheduled to fight Benoît Saint Denis next, a matchup he called very tough for Pimblett.
The context around Gordon makes the rematch talk more than idle chatter. He is coming off a knockout win over Thiago Moisés four months earlier, but before that he lost to Rafa Garcia at Noche UFC last year by third-round TKO after saying he had been injured going into the fight because he was hit by a car one day earlier. Against Miller, he entered as the favorite despite that loss.
Miller, meanwhile, brought a different kind of threat into UFC 328. The veteran entered the UFC for the 47th time for the bout and already holds the most fights and wins in company history. He had won three of his last five fights and had not been finished since December 2018, giving Gordon a rugged opponent at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, in the late prelims that began at 7 pm EST.
Gordon said he is not banking on the rematch to happen, but he is not closing the door either. If he beats Miller and adds one more win, he said, the matchup starts to make sense again if Pimblett drops two straight and the numbers line up. For now, though, Gordon’s next answer has to come in Newark.
