As Justin Gaethje gears up to face Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324, he intends to once again crush a key contender that the MMA world and the promotion want lined up for the lightweight champion.Gaethje envisions securing an undisputed title clash against Ilia Topuria at UFC White House. If he beats Pimblett and accomplishes that dream, 'The Highlight' realizes he'd be almost recreating another landmark upset he was part of.For context, Gaethje's win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 effectively ended any chance of 'El Cucuy' ever facing Khabib Nurmagomedov, a showdown the MMA world eagerly awaited for years.Similarly, given their long-running rivalry, Topuria vs. Pimblett is a fight the MMA world is clamoring for. However, if 'The Highlight' defeats the Englishman, it would close the door on the matchup, at least for the short term.Speaking about his upcoming fight during the UFC 2026 seasonal press conference, Gaethje said:"I wanna play spoiler just like I did in Khabib and Tony. I'm going to f**k this up for everybody, and there is going to be no Paddy and Ilia. I'm going to do the same thing I did for that fight, and then I'm going to fight Ilia on the White House card if he's ready to fight again."Topuria has announced that he'll be out of action for the first quarter of 2026, amid swirling divorce rumors.Check out Justin Gaethje's comments below:Justin Gaethje reacts to being the underdog for UFC 324Despite being ranked above Paddy Pimblett, Justin Gaethje has opened as an underdog for UFC 324, with Fightodds.io listing him as a +170 underdog, and the Scouser as a -200 favorite.The moneyline, however, doesn't seem to bother 'The Highlight'. During an interview with Full Send MMA ahead of the aforementioned press conference, Gaethje said:"I love being the underdog. I think I've been the underdog out of the 12 fights [I've had after 2017], I think I've been the underdog like eight or nine times, because I'm always fighting such tough competition." [At the 3:50 mark of the interview]