Kyte: Alright Coach — we’re back in business and we’ve got an interim lightweight title fight to discuss. So what’s the best trait of Justin Gaethje and what’s the best trait of Paddy Pimblett?
Chartier: For Gaethje, it’s his durability, his aggressiveness and his experience. He’s been in there with the best of them, five rounds with some of them, and he’s been in these big moments his whole career; you can’t put a price tag on that experience. We know he’s super-exciting, he’s very aggressive and he hits hard, so those are the three things I would say.
For Pimblett, it’s two things: obviously he’s a great grappler, but I think he’s so confident in his grappling that he’s become good at striking with the awkwardness of his strikes. He’s so confident that he knows that if he’s out of position, he can grab you, throw up a flying triangle or create some kind of scramble. His confidence in his grappling is leading to confidence in his striking.
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Along with that, he’s so unorthodox. You see these guys that have been in there with everybody, and then he comes at you and he’s long, gangly, and he throws from weird angles, but it’s effective. A striking coach would probably never teach you (to mimic his style) because it’s so unorthodox, but it has an effect against guys that are used to seeing traditional strikes come at them.
Kyte: With Gaethje — and this probably an unfair thing to ask given that he’s only been put out one time in his career — are you worried at all about the durability as he’s 37 now, it’s been all these years, all these wars?
It’s not that he’s getting chinny or anything like that, but is there any concern that eventually all that damage, all those battles pile up and he just can’t take those shots the same way?
