It seems that Justin Gaethje has always been down for a slobberknocker. This goes all the way back to the time he got in the fight racket, which was more than a decade and a half ago when he debuted against Kevin Croom. He slammed Croom so hard that the floorboards shook in Broomfield. In those early days he’d meet an opponent head-on and dare them to out-berserk him, and the folly would fall to those who thought they could.
Even before he made the move from the WSOF to the UFC nearly 10 years ago there were concerns about this kind of fighting style — pace-pushing advances, wild punches being thrown and eaten at breakneck speed, bone-splintering leg kicks, concussive pocket exchanges, the odd downhill tumble in a tangle of fuss and limbs — and its sustainability. When he celebrates his victories with his signature backflip off the top of the cage?
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Well, even those come with a dynamic of frenzy and danger.
Nothing is safe when Gaethje’s in the cage. With 14 fight night bonuses in as many UFC fights, he is the embodiment of a roman candle, awing crowds for as long as it’ll last.
Not that, you know, Justin Gaethje himself sees it that way. At 37 years old, as he gets ready to fight for the interim lightweight title against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 on Saturday in what could be his last fight, he insists that there’s always been a method to the madness.
And he bristles a bit when he hears words like “reckless,” or when people go on tangents about “self-preservation.”
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“I don’t think people can understand what I’m doing and what I’ve been doing this whole time,” he says. “I think especially if you’ve never trained, even if you have trained, you still think that I’m taking chances. But I see punches. I’ve been working on seeing punches. That’s a huge part of what we’re doing. Controlling your feet and using my footwork.
“It’s all these little subtle techniques that have given me the success that I’ve had over the years. And I think people have different perceptions of what fighting is, and I don’t think they understand what I’ve been doing.”
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What Gaethje is saying in the twilight of a remarkable career is that he’s been somewhat of a misunderstood artist. That nothing is quite as incautious as it seems, at least not in the granular details. And if you compare the Gaethje that buzzsawed his way through Luiz Firmino and Luis Palomino in his WSOF days to the one who fought Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier in the UFC, there is a more technical fighter on display in the latter timeline. The footwork is there. The snap of the jab. The laying of traps. He’s become more technical over time, perhaps meeting the criteria for what some in the industry have traditionally called a “technical brawler.”
Still, to the naked eye, the southpaw Gaethje is the same as ever. Which is to say, a cinematic action hero who breathes just fine through bloodied nostrils. He had to get run over by a boulder early in his first fight with Rafael Fiziev before he came roaring back to life and won a majority decision. That was in 2023, long after the implementation of better footwork.
When I visited him for the first time at his gym in Denver a decade ago, he was training for his WSOF title fight with Richard Patishnock, and sparring alternating opponents through five rounds. By all outward appearances he was very much like a high-octane marauder who had trouble reining in intensity.
First, he slammed a powerful (yet inadvertent) knee into the brow of training partner Jason “The Dragon” Lee, which opened up a gash that left blood streaming down his face. I remember Gaethje felt compelled to apologize most sincerely, but not to downshift. Just moments later, he knocked the wind out of the replacement. Then he left another Grudge staple, LT Nelson, in rough shape. Back then he was what his longtime coach Trevor Whitman called a “bread and butter” fighter, meaning a scaffolded wrestler who could be molded in the ways of a dangerous striker.
Justin Gaethje is once again the underdog as his dance date with Paddy Pimblett nears.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
As he tries to win the interim lightweight title for a second time all these years later, what he’s never lost is his fearlessness.
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“A huge tool that I have is people do think I’m ignorant or stupid, and it allows me to answer any conversation or negotiation or fight with what I believe is an advantage when they think that I don’t know what I’m doing,” today’s Gaethje says. “There’s been a constant method to the madness since day one. And this is everything I’ve ever asked for, these big opportunities. And yeah, I’m so excited to be here. People are underestimating me again. It’s very, very good. It’s good for me.”
If we had concerns about the sustainability of Gaethje’s style early on, he’s answered them by still being in a big spot in 2026. He is headlining the first-ever Paramount+ card in part because of his perseverance. He has fought one of the most ridiculous résumés in the sport, top-five opponents or better in just about all of them. When we think he’s overmatched, as he seemed against Fiziev, he digs deep. Even when he got knocked out spectacularly by accommodating Max Holloway at UFC 300 and standing in the center of the Octagon and swinging for the fences, he bounces back.
“I think a lot of the doubt — the reason people are doubting me — is coming from that Max Holloway performance,” he says.
“Again, the recency bias is crazy. Holloway was a previous champion, a multiple-time defending champion. I’ve never lost to anybody that’s not a champion.”
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Pimblett has never been a champion in the UFC. Should Gaethje win Saturday night, there will be a massive fight looming against the lineal lightweight champion Ilia Topuria to unify the belts.
Vegas doesn’t like Gaethje’s chances. He has been installed as a sizable underdog.
“This is my 11th time being an underdog in this sport,” Gaethje says. “It’s everything I’ve dreamed of when I started this career, being in these positions. And I’ve constantly put myself here, and I’ve constantly come out on top.
“I’m 8-2 as an underdog. And from a young age, I’ve always loved being the underdog. So I love this, I love where I’m at.”
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He was an underdog in his rematch with Fiziev last March, and he prevailed in what was one of the most thankless tasks of 2025. It might seem that time is catching up to Gaethje, the madman who has delivered some of the most memorable fights in UFC history. But Gaethje doesn’t see it that way.
“I’m still writing my book,” he says. “We all want to create a legacy. I’m trying to create a legacy. And I think if I could finish this how I want to finish it, they might make a movie.”
If they did, a good title might be: Nothing Is As It Seems.
