Russian Andrei Pulyaev suffered a hand injury during a fight with Cameroonian Ateba Gauthier at the UFC 324 tournament in Las Vegas, said the second of the domestic fighter and former Bellator champion Andrei Koreshkov.

At UFC 324, the middleweight fight between Pulyaev and Gauthier lasted all three rounds. The Russian was defeated by unanimous decision.

— In the first round there was nothing so dangerous for Andrey. Well, yes, at the beginning he missed a blow, but from this blow, let’s say, he woke up more than he was shocked. And he fell because the canvas was slippery. In general, he almost always lost his balance in this fight due to the fact that he was sliding. Except for the blow in the second round. This is his peculiarity, he likes to slide. And this happens in training.

Gauthier is a really strong guy. But I understood perfectly well that Andrei was capable of fighting him completely and not allowing himself to be knocked out. And in principle, as many have noticed, Andrey gave a worthy fight. He hit a lot and broke his opponent’s face. No one had done this before. The third round was generally won in the opinion of two judges, and in my opinion too. But unfortunately, these conclusions from the balance spoiled the picture. Well, what can you do?

— What are Pulyaev’s future plans? When might the next fight be?

— It’s not clear yet. After this fight, his hand was broken and injured. We need to heal the injury, and then we’ll think further and look at some proposals. Regarding the injury: the doctors looked at it on the spot, no one did an x-ray – this was not required. We put on a splint, and when we arrive home we will deal with this issue. His finger doesn’t bend at all. When he gave the first good counter blow, it hit him on the forehead and broke his hand. Most likely, he broke it,” the Match TV website quotes Koreshkov as saying.

Pulyaev has 10 wins and four losses in MMA, while Gauthier has 10 wins and one loss.

Live broadcasts of UFC tournaments can be seen on the Match TV and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.

The lineup for the UFC’s first numbered event in 2026 raised big questions, especially the participation of Paddy Pimblett in the main event. The much-hyped Englishman was given written-off veteran Justin Gaethje as his opponent in order to win the title, but the fight did not go according to plan.

“I can’t wait to give him a good finishing touch.”

Initially, UFC 324 was supposed to have another main fight of the evening. The management wanted Ilia Topuria to defend the lightweight title. There was various information regarding his opponent, but the champion refused to fight in the first quarter due to family reasons.

The management couldn’t come up with anything better than organizing a fight for the interim title. The fourth and fifth ranked numbers, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett, were unexpectedly named as contenders for the belt. Many fans were quite surprised by this choice of promotion, especially the participation of an Englishman in it, whose level of opposition in the UFC left much to be desired.

37-year-old Gaethje has also not been among the main contenders for the title for a long time. The American veteran also lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2020. After that there were defeats to Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway. Before the fight with Pimblett, he had only one win, winning by decision against Rafael Fiziev.

But the first number in the rating, Arman Tsarukyan, was forced to watch the fight from the sidelines. Everything looked like they wanted to lead Paddy, who has a huge army of fans, to the title as smoothly as possible. The confrontation between the Englishman and Topuria could be “sold” well in the summer, when a major tournament is planned to be held in the White House. But Gaethje was clearly against such arrangements.

“I really want to bring the fight to the later rounds and cause this guy a lot of pain, I’m looking forward to it. Honestly, I can’t wait to give him a good beating,” Gaethje said in an interview with ESPN MMA.

Fulfilled the plan 100%

Already in the first round, it became clear that Pimblett, who had not yet lost in the UFC, would have a very difficult time claiming victory. The Englishman tried to fight with an experienced opponent in his arms, but it ended badly for him. Gaethje hit him powerfully in the head, and only a miracle saved Paddy from defeat by knockout in the first round.

In the second five minutes, the advantage was also on Justin’s side. The American controlled the fight both in the standing position and in wrestling on the canvas. The Briton finished this segment with bruises on his face. Gaethje broke his opponent’s nose and cut his eyebrow.

Pimblett’s fans had a timid hope of turning the tide of the fight in the third round, where the Briton looked better, but it was only a short flash. The next two segments were left to Gaethje. Only in the end did Paddy decide on an adventurous attack, which ended in nothing for him.

At the end of the fight, all three judges deservedly awarded victory to Gaethje, who became the interim lightweight champion. For the highly touted Pimblett, this was his first loss in the UFC.

Live broadcasts of UFC tournaments can be seen on the Match TV and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.

Referee Mark Smith, who judged the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight between Cameroonian Ateba Gauthier and Russian Andrei Pulyaev, received a serious knee injury during the fight.

The middleweight fight at UFC 324 lasted three rounds, with the Cameroonian winning by unanimous decision.

Smith was injured during the fight and was only able to leave the Octagon with outside help. At a press conference, UFC head Dana White said that Smith had a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.

Live broadcasts of UFC tournaments can be seen on the Match TV and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.