Justin
Gaethje is willing to risk taking damage to execute his game
plan against Ilia
Topuria.
Interim champion Gaethje (27-5) challenges Topuria (17-0) for the
lightweight title in the main event at
UFC White House on June 14. Gaethje believes the most important
thing he needs to avoid against Topuria is compromising his
position.
Topuria is coming off consecutive knockouts over Alexander
Volkanovski, Max
Holloway and Charles
Oliveira. Gaethje believes all three fellow legends made the
mistake of going on their back foot against Topuria. With Topuria
being known for his long combinations, Gaethje saw his opponents
retreating after the first couple of punches. However, Gaethje is
absolutely adamant about going forward against Topuria. “The
Highlight” says he is even willing to risk taking some damage to
avoid going backwards.
Forward at All Costs
“It’s position,” Gaethje told UFC on Paramount+. “They got compromised. They got put
on their back foot. They got put on their heels on his second shot,
when he was in the middle of a five-punch combination. That’s
something that I cannot do. I will move forward this fight… And if
that puts me into more dangerous positions, then I have to do that
still. This is how I will fight this fight.”