Daniel Cormier thinks Justin Gaethje proved he was the perfect candidate to headline UFC 324.

Many questioned Gaethje’s placement in Saturday’s interim lightweight title fight against Paddy Pimblett (23-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC), deeming Arman Tsarukyan as the more worthy contender. But after Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) came up big as an underdog against Pimblett to claim the interim belt, Cormier says “The Highlight” proved otherwise.

Not only did Gaethje get his hand raised, but he gave fans a battle to remember when he went to war with Pimblett.

“He walked over after the fight and said, ‘I absolutely won, right?’ and I said, ‘You are a sick son of a b*tch,’ because he went ahead like the old Justin Gaethje,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “That guy that was measured when he knocked out Dustin Poirier and beat Rafael Fiziev was long gone.

“It was almost like he understood the assignment:’We’re on Paramount. This is a new network. There are going to be new fans. We need to introduce them to what the UFC is.” I think after watching that, everybody that was tuned in are going to be lifelong fans of the UFC because on the special nights, there is not a sport in the world that could compare to the UFC and tonight we had one of those special nights.”

Now a two-time interim lightweight champion, Gaethje is expected to unify his belt with champion Ilia Topuria in his next fight.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier: Justin Gaethje ‘understood the assignment’ at UFC 324