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.
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.”
