By "history", Paddy Pimblett could become the first fighter from Liverpool to win a UFC interim title, win a UFC belt or be a UFC title holder but Justin Gaethje stands in his way.

Pimblett would also be the fourth Briton to win a UFC belt after Michael Bisping, Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards. Although those three were all full/undisputed UFC champions.

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It's a UFC takeover in Las Vegas once again as 20,000 people pile into the T-Mobile Arena to watch Justin Gaethje go head-to-head with Liverpool's Paddy Pimblett.

Are we about to witness history?

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Coral Barry
BBC Sport at the T-Mobile Arena

Justin Gaethje has bristled at talk of retirement or any suggestion he might be fading this week, but eagle eyed fans have noticed he appears to be carrying a staph infection on his neck.

The American has worn a skin colour plaster all week to cover the wound and made it known he didn't want to be asked about it by media.

Lots of fighters get staph before fights as they are constantly getting knocked around in the gym and on the mats, and in truth many of them fight with the infection.

It remains to be seen if it will affect Gaethje...

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It's safe to say Justin Gaethje is taking no prisoners. Here's what he thinks of Paddy Pimblett.

“He’s weird but in a good way. He goes left when you’re supposed to go right and these are things I’m going to have to figure out early. Great grappling, terrible wrestler, so we’ll see if he can take me down.

“I envision him asleep. I have to turn his lights off for one second. Hopefully, he’s bleeding, hopefully, it’s like Tony Ferguson or Eddie Alvarez. The more I hear him talk, the more I want to hurt him.”

I wonder where this man will be watching?

Ilia Topuria, of course, is the UFC lightweight champion and will be set to take on the winner of Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett.

That would surely be a blockbuster of a fight!

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UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is on hiatus from the sport as he deals with personal issues following his divorce, meaning Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje will contest the interim title in his absence.

Tom Aspinall waited 19 months to be upgraded from interim heavyweight champion as Jon Jones toyed with the idea of retirement last year, but Pimblett said he will not be in the same situation should he become interim champion.

"Ilia isn't going to get the same breathing space as Jon Jones," Pimblett told BBC Sport. "If Ilia is not back by June-July, I think I'll become undisputed.

"In an ideal world I beat Justin. Then I beat Ilia for the undisputed title, and then before the end of the year defend it against someone."

Topuria has since said on social media that he intends to make his comeback in "April or June" against the winner of Gaethje v Pimblett.

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The UFC interim lightweight title bout between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett was made after champion Ilia Topuria said he would not be fighting early in 2026 while he deals with personal issues following his divorce.

American Gaethje is ranked fourth, with Pimblett fifth, so some of you may be asking why they're fighting for the belt and not a higher-ranked fighter.

Well, number one-ranked Arman Tsarukyan is yet to earn UFC president's Dana White's backing after pulling out of a title bout with Islam Makhachev through injury last year, a day before the contest.

Second-ranked Charles Oliveira and third-ranked Max Holloway, meanwhile, have already been convincingly knocked out by Topuria, so the UFC decided to go in a different direction with Pimblett and Gaethje.

The winner of tonight's fight should go on to face Topuria later in the year, provided the Georgian-Spaniard's personal issues are resolved.

Right, buckle up guys, because the sun may well be rising by the time this fight is over.

Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett are expected to make their walk to the cage at around 4:25 GMT.

See you there.

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Coral Barry
BBC Sport at the T-Mobile Arena

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It is 16 years and four days since a 15-year-old Paddy Pimblett walked into his first MMA gym and told everyone he was going to a UFC champion.

The date, 20 January 2010, is burned into Pimblett’s mind as everyone within earshot laughed at the kid with a buzzcut and braces.

But Pimblett’s unshakable belief in himself has now carried him to a UFC interim lightweight title fight.

Can he silence his nay sayers again tonight?

Right then, the formalities are out of the way, so it's all in on Justin Gaethje v Paddy Pimblett.

Can't wait for this one, such an intriguing fight.

Coral Barry
BBC Sport at the T-Mobile Arena

Amanda Nunes and Mackenzie Dern are screaming instructions at Natalia Silva.

Rose Namajunas got Silva to the ground and the two-weight champion Nunes' voice was really carrying from cageside.

Brazilians out in force for each other.

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Rose Namajunas is scrapping with Natalia Silva as I type this...

Namajunas is a two-time former UFC strawweight champion and is setting her sights on a flyweight title fight against Valentina Shevchenko if she can beat number two-ranked Silva tonight.

Speaking to BBC Sport earlier this week, the American, 33, said she would be content with her career if she were to retire today, but becoming a two-division champion remains an important goal.

Namajunas also spoke about her hobbies away from fighting, one of which is baking bread.

"I got into the freshly-milled flour stuff because it’s so much better for you and healthier," said Namajunas.

"I definitely had some not so good ones... It’s an art for sure. I’m not even much of a baker, but bread I can do because I love doing it and I love the taste of it.”

Jean Silva after his victory against Arnold Allen: "We prepared as a team to be here for a three round war. I wanted to knock him out so badly but my team kept telling me to wait. It was very important for me; I know I wanted the knockout but I really wanted to be here throughout the whole thing because I love being here."

When asked why he apologised to Allen at the end of the fight: "When I started this, he was already here. It is hard to find someone who you admire and it was hard for me to fight him. I really admire the guy."

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England's Arnold Allen was beaten by Brazil's Jean Silva by unanimous decision in an entertaining featherweight bout.

As a lover of cats, I was delighted to hear that Arnold had brought his cat Fish to Vegas with him before this fight.

Wonder if he got her into the T-Mobile Arena, too?!

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Modestas Bukauskas may have tasted defeat in Vegas but he's a winner after everything he's had to come through.

Have a listen.

When Modestas Bukauskas was 19, he was staring at wires coming out of his body and trying not to look as doctors operated on his heart.

The fledgling athlete would be awake throughout surgery that lasted almost five hours. He had been experiencing heart palpitations since childhood, and they were only worsening as his athletic career blossomed.

He was a kid who wanted to make his Lithuanian father proud and become a UFC fighter.

"It was pretty brutal," Bukauskas told BBC Sport. "I was awake the whole time. They literally had wires going up my groin into my heart and they were trying to induce palpitations.

"Then they had to basically burn off an external circuit in my heart to basically fix my heart."

Make sure you read his story.

It was heartbreak for Modestas Bukauskas in his light-heavyweight bout with Nikita Krylov.

The Russian ended the prelim fight with a massive strike in the third round.

But being in the cage for Bukauskas can be seen as a victory. Let's take a look at his story.

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Before we get into building up to the main event, we've got a few things from UFC 324 to catch you up on.

UFC 324 is sure to be an absolute cracker and here are the five fights we've got to sink our teeth into tonight.

• Arnold Allen beaten by Jean Silva - featherweight bout
• Natalia Silva beat Rose Namajunas - women's flyweight bout
• Waldo Cortes Acosta v Derrick Lewis - heavyweight bout
• Sean O'Malley v Song Yadong - bantamweight bout
• Justin Gaethje v Paddy Pimblett - lightweight interim title bout

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Justin Gaethje. Paddy Pimblett. UFC 324. It doesn't get much bigger than this.

Hello fight fans, welcome to our live text as Liverpool's Pimblett looks to become the UFC lightweight interim champion but America's Gaethje stands in his way.

We can't wait for this one so let's get right to it.

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