Despite coming up short in his two previous attempts at undisputed
gold in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, Justin
Gaethje never lost faith.
Gaethje became an undisputed champion for the first time at
UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in Washington, D.C., and it
wasn’t an easy path. After nearly being finished in the second
round courtesy of a body shot, Gaethje rallied and bounced back to
beat Ilia
Topuria in a massive upset in the main event.
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Gaethje previously lost by submission to Khabib
Nurmagomedov and Charles
Oliveira in championship bouts, in addition to losing the BMF
belt via knockout to Max
Holloway. Nevertheless, “The Highlight” always knew he’d
achieve his goals.
Justin Gaethje reflects on his path to glory
During the latest episode the “What Hones You” podcast, Trevor
Wittman, Gaethje’s coach, asked the champ about the doubts he had
regarding whether he’d actually become an undisputed champion. The
UFC lightweight replied, “I mean, it doesn’t sound practical to
say… I never thought that it was gone. Because going through those
two fights, and then the Max Holloway fight after that, it made it
real difficult.”
Gaethje then recalled falling out of championship contention,
saying, “Before the Max fight, I was on a two or three-fight
winning streak? I had knocked out Dustin
Poirier. I was definitely planning on fighting for the belt
next. I think Oliveira had [the shot], that’s when Topuria came up
to lightweight, and they made that fight. So, I was like, sh*t,
that kind of throws a wrench in everything.”
A second win over Rafael
Fiziev put Gaethje back in the mix, and he then took on
Paddy
Pimblett for the interim title, which he won to set up the
Topuria title unification bout. A corner stoppage at UFC Freedom
250 saw the American finally claim undisputed gold.
“I never really lost hope. I always knew that I was performing
better than I had; I knew that my body still felt as good as it
ever did. I knew that this sport was crazy, and I just had to put
wins together. And, yeah, that was the mindset.”