The referee and judges overseeing the UFC 324 main event between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett have been selected ahead of their showdown on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The selections were made by the Nevada Athletic Commission during a monthly meeting on Tuesday.
Marc Goddard is set to serve as the referee and the third man in the octagon when Gaethje and Pimblett clash in the five-round main event. Goddard is set to receive $3,000 payment for refereeing the bout.
The judges scoring the fight — if the main event goes to decision — are Mike Bell, Derek Cleary and Sal D’Amato. They’ll each earn $2,600 for the event.
Gaethje and Pimblett are meeting in the main event with an interim lightweight title going up for grabs with reigning champion Ilia Topuria sidelined dealing with personal issues. Topuria has stated he hopes to return sometime between April and June but with his timeline to fight again still not set in stone, the UFC moved forward with crowning an interim champion.
Gaethje enters the fight with a 3-1 record over his past four fights including a pair of victories over Rafael Fiziev and scoring a vicious knockout against Dustin Poirier. His lone loss came at UFC 300 when Gaethje was knocked out by Max Holloway.
As for Pimblett, he remains undefeated in the UFC with a perfect 7-0 resume including a statement making performance when he defeated Michael Chandler by third-round TKO when they met at UFC 314. Pimblett was gunning for a showdown with Topuria after they’ve engaged in a heated rivalry over the past few years, but he’ll first have to get through Gaethje to potentially set up that fight at a later date.
The commission will determine the rest of the referees and judges for UFC 324 on fight night.
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