Paddy Pimblett's psychological approach to UFC 324 was "terrible," according to Justin Gaethje.
Gaethje outbattled Pimblett to a unanimous decision victory on Saturday night in Las Vegas to claim the interim UFC lightweight title.
Pimblett's bold pre-fight declarations were the wrong strategy, Gaethje insisted. "You can't talk or think reckless when you go in there," he told TNT Sport.
"Him saying that my face would be f------ up, and his face would look the same, and that this fight would be the same as the Michael Chandler fight, those are terrible ways to approach this sport.
"You can't do it. I just showed him why."
Pimblett defeated Chandler last year for his career-best result but came up short in his first bid for UFC gold. But Gaethje has offered words of encouragement to his beaten rival.
"I told him 'stay in it,'" Gaethje said.
"I was right where he is at. I just did what Eddie Alvarez did to me, at around the same age."
Gaethje lost his unbeaten record to Alvarez in 2017 but rebuilt to now being on the cusp of a fight for the full lightweight title.
Gaethje hopes to meet Ilia Topuria, who holds the full version of the lightweight title, at the UFC's planned White House event on June 14.
Other contenders for Gaethje to fight next include Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira, who meet each other inside the Octagon on March 7.
Gaethje's most recent two defeats came against Holloway and Oliveira and he has expressed an interest in revenge.
He also addressed his strategy against Pimblett: "Everyone says 'why don't you wrestle?' That was me wrestling. 50% of wrestling is stopping someone from taking you down.
"I have gained some amazing skills in the striking department because my coach is awesome, and that's where I trust myself.
"That's how I fight. I could have done five more rounds. But if I wrestled for the first two rounds I wouldn't have had the cardio to do that. This is a battle of attrition."
