Paddy Pimblett has claimed that he’s motivated to have a rematch with Justin Gaethje after seeing him become crowned lightweight champion with an upset TKO win over Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250.

The 31-year-old Pimblett was also beaten by Gaethje earlier this year, but he took enough positive signs from that five-rounder to believe he can do better in a rematch.

“Getting up and watching that, came in more motivated, you know,” Pimblett said on his YouTube channel. “I went five rounds with Gaethje and was pushing the pace to the very end. I didn’t quit. I kept coming forward to try and finish the fight, you know what I mean? And I think I won (rounds) three and five, so it would be three-two. One of the judges agreed.

“And if a lot of things didn’t happen in that fight like eye gouges, low blows, and him faking low blows, then it would have been a different fight. You’ve got to get on with it now. No point crying over spilt milk. I just hope I get to fight him again. As they say, he’s the undisputed champion now. I went five rounds with the undisputed champion of the world.”

That being said, Pimblett acknowledges that he has to fight his way back up the pecking order first, starting with his upcoming fight against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 329 on July 11th.

“I don’t think it’s a No. 1 contender fight [when I fight BSD]. I think Arman [Tsarukyan] probably still the No. 1 contender but Justin said himself that Charles [Oliveira] has beat him before so he’d like to fight Charles again. Charles could end up getting the title shot. Perfect time to make Ilia versus Arman because Arman’s been calling Ilia out for years. But there’s so many different variables in the lightweight division now, you don’t know.

“I’d love to beat BSD and get a rematch with Justin but I can’t really demand that after a one-fight win streak, so we’ll just have to see what happens over the next coming months.”