Justin Gaethje

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LightweightUFC
April 13, 2024
Gaethje lost the UFC "BMF" Championship on Saturday, falling to Max Holloway via KO (punch) at 4:59 of Round 5 at UFC 300 in Las Vegas.
ANALYSIS
Gaethje showed his usual toughness in what was a wild affair, but his trademark damaging blows were nowhere to be found, at least with any consistency. Justin really struggled with the speed of Holloway throughout the course of the bout. He got clipped with repeated, damaging combinations. Gaethje also clearly broke his nose early on, and that impacted his performance. Justin's most effective offensive thrusts were low kicks. His biggest moment of the night was a Round 4 knockdown, but Holloway got up right away and was never threatened the rest of the way. Gaethje went out on his shield, getting knocked out with a second left in one of the most wild exchanges in the history of the sport. Justin will be 36 years of age this coming November and is 3-3 in his past six bouts. He's not a legitimate title contender in the traditional sense, but big fights will continue to come Gaethje's way given his immense popularity. On the bright side, he'll also take home a $300,000 bonus after this fight was given Fight of the Night honors.
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Fight booked versus Holloway
LightweightUFC
January 16, 2024
Gaethje is scheduled to face Max Holloway in a lightweight bout at UFC 300 in Las Vegas on April 13, Marcel Dorff of Eurosport.nl reports.
ANALYSIS
After back-to-back wins over Rafael Fiziev and Dustin Poirier, Gaethje will look to keep his streak of dominance alive versus Holloway, who holds a significant experience advantage over Gaethje.
New
LightweightUFC
July 29, 2023
Gaethje defeated Dustin Poirier via KO (head kick) at 1:00 of Round 2 at UFC 291 on Saturday in Salt Lake City.
ANALYSIS
Gaethje was also crowned the new "BMF" champion in the process. Facing Poirier for the first time in five-plus years, Gaethje took a different approach. He again peppered his opponent with low kicks, but other than that, was far more measured and cautious, waiting for openings to present themselves. This has been Justin's style of fighting over his last handful of fights, and it's been a resounding success. Gaethje got the better of a back-and-forth Round 1 before finishing Dustin with a head kick early in Round 2. In what was an eerie coincidence, the main event of the most recent UFC event in Salt Lake City, UFC 278 last August, ended in the same exact way, a brutal head kick from Leon Edwards to Kamaru Usman that won him the UFC Welterweight Championship. As for Justin, he called for the winner of the upcoming UFC Lightweight Championship bout between 155-pound king Islam Makhachev and challenger Charles Oliveira scheduled for this coming October. He deserves the opportunity, and he'll almost most certainly get it. On top of that, he'll walk away with an extra $50,000 after rightfully receiving one of four official Performance of the Night bonuses awarded on the evening.
Inks rematch with Poirier
LightweightUFC
May 16, 2023
Gaethje will face Dustin Poirier in a lightweight bout, headlining UFC 291 on July 29 in Salt Lake City, Shaheen Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com reports Tuesday.
ANALYSIS
Gaethje will face Poirier for the second time - the first was a hard-fought defeat back in 2018. Now, he'll get his chance at revenge. Gaethje is coming off a win against Rafael Fiziev in March, but he's lost his last two headlining fights, one to Charles Oliveira and the other to Khabib Nurmagomedov. While no "official" belt is on the line here despite this being the main event of a pay-per-view, the UFC did announce it will be reviving its "BMF Title," which will be awarded to the winner here.
Statement win over Rafael Fiziev
LightweightUFC
March 18, 2023
Gaethje defeated Rafael Fiziev via majority decision (29-28, 28-28, 28-28) at UFC 286 on Saturday in London.
ANALYSIS
It's a massive statement win for Gaethje against a legitimate future title contender. It's made all the more impressive by the fact Gaethje started slowly before finding his range in the final two rounds. We've seen time and time again betting against Justin in a back-and-forth fire fight is a bad idea. The Arizona native finished with a 106-97 edge in total strikes landed, including a 54-38 advantage in Round 3 alone. Gaethje also connected on the first successful takedown of his UFC career, although it can with just seconds to go and had no impact on the bout. The victory keeps Gaethje firmly in title contention at 155 pounds. He's just 2-2 in his past four fights, although the defeats came against a pair of former UFC Lightweight Champions in Charles Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov. He'll also take home a $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus for his efforts here -- his seventh FOTN variety and 11th overall with the UFC.
Set to face Fiziev in March
LightweightUFC
January 14, 2023
Gaethje is scheduled to fight Rafael Fiziev at UFC 286 on March 18 in a lightweight bout, Marcel Dorff of Eurosport.nl reports.
ANALYSIS
Gaethje underwent nose surgery in July 2022, but apparently, he's ready to fight against another fighter who underwent the same procedure in Fiziev. Gaethje lost to Charles Oliveira via rear-naked choke in the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 274, his latest bout.