WASHINGTON – Dana White says Justin Gaethje‘s title win over Ilia Topuria gave fans everything you could wish for in a fight.
Gaethje (28-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) upset Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) to claim the lightweight title by Round 4 doctor’s stoppage TKO in Saturday’s UFC Freedom 250 main event at the White House.
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Gaethje vowed to change Topuria’s face and that’s exactly what he did when he weathered a storm to force doctors to intervene at the end of Round 4 and stop the fight. UFC CEO White was thrilled with how the fight panned out, which left Gaethje earning an extra $825,000 in bonuses.
“I mean, it was Fight of the Night, but Fight of the Year, fight of the whatever – it’s one of the greatest fights you’ll ever see,” White said during the UFC Freedom 250 post-fight news conference. “It was incredible, and especially when you’ve got a guy, I don’t know where it ended up, but 6-to 7-to-8-1 underdog, and then comes in and does what he did tonight. And then Ilia, the body shots that Ilia hit Gaethje with in that round, and then Gaethje gets through it, Gaethje’s about to get into an armbar, he almost got into a triangle – you saw everything in that fight.”
Gaethje came up big as a massive underdog when he handed Topuria his first-career loss. After capturing the interim lightweight title twice, “The Highlight” finally became undisputed UFC champion.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White raves about Justin Gaethje’s UFC title win over Topuria
