It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say Justin Gaethje was fueled by patriotism at UFC Freedom 250. Would it?
“If there’s a setting for an American fighter to just spring the greatest upset we’ve seen in a long time, tonight’s the night,” UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said on the post-fight show. “On the 250th anniversary that the United States gained our independence and became a country, a guy went out there, in Justin Gaethje, and showed that American spirit that allowed him to become a world champion against a tough champion in Ilia Topuria.”
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Indeed, Gaethje, fighting for the undisputed UFC lightweight title for the third time finally broke through with the performance of his career by outlasting and ultimately breaking Topuria, making him quit on the stool at the end of the fourth round. Through 20 minutes, Gaethje battered Topuria with stiff jabs and hard combos that bloodied his face.
Topuria was immediately transported to a local hospital after the fight.
“Who knows what kind of damage he took?” Joe Rogan said. “We could be looking at broken orbital bones. … We’ve seen a lot of broken orbital bones, we know what it looks like, that’s what it looked like.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 15: Justin Gaethje talks to U.S. President Donald Trump after defeating Ilia Topuria in a lightweight title bout during UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House on June 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump is hosting a series of Ultimate Fighting Championship matches on his 80th birthday, which the White House is calling “a once-in-a-generation celebration of the American fighting spirit.” (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
While Gaethje dished out the damage to earn the signature win of his career, he also absorbed his share. At one point, Gaethje appeared to be finished when, in the second round, Topuria kept digging hard left hooks to the body that ultimately crumped Gaethje to the canvas.
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There, Topuria worked to finish Gaethje from mount and with submission attempts, but Gaethje survived the onslaught and then flipped the script in Rounds 3 and 4 for the win.
That, more than anything, is what impressed Rogan.
“Maybe even more impressive (was) what he endured. Those rips to the body, those left hooks to the body were so nasty. He got hurt so bad,” Rogan said. “He almost got finished. It looked like he was gonna get triangle (choked). It looked like he was gonna get armbar’d. It was over and over. He was dominated on the ground. It looked bad.
“For him to come back from that, it makes it all the more sweet. And for him to do this at the White House, there was something about him shadow boxing with the American flag wrapped around him when he was warming up. You couldn’t have scripted it better.”
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Gaethje had failed in two previous shots at undisputed UFC gold – against Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2020 and Charles Oliveira in May 2022. Now, at 37, Gaethje is the undisputed lightweight champion following his most impressive victory on the White House South Lawn.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Joe Rogan: Gaethje’s title win ‘couldn’t have been scripted better’
