Justin Gaethje successfully dethroned Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 to become the lightweight champion of the world, but the fight wasn’t without its hardships.
‘The Highlight’ turned his clash with the previously undefeated superstar Topuria into a dog fight, an area of the game he relishes. Throughout the history of mixed martial arts, you would struggle to find somebody who thrives in the mayhem more than Gaethje does, and he often has the edge over his opponents anytime the bout reaches those chaotic moments. That remained the case during his last outing, despite having to endure punishment to get over the finishing line.
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In the curtain closer at UFC Freedom 250, Ilia Topuria showed flashes of brilliance, hurting Justin Gaethje with body shots and almost finishing the fight. However, Gaethje believes his opponent’s actions following his crippling liver hooks led to his demise.
“I told Trevor yesterday, I think him hurting me to my body was the reason, one of the main reasons I won,” Gaethje said. “You know, when he hit me, when I dropped, it wasn’t the first time he hit me in the body. That was probably like the fourth or fifth one. And he had landed some really clean shots, and he could probably sense that I was in trouble and hurt. And I think that fact made him dump everything because it was his last chance to take me out. And he almost did take me out.”
After winning titles in two divisions and cementing himself as the number two pound-for-pound in the world, Ilia Topuria became an established knockout artist who would trouble anybody on the feet.
But even with Topuria’s expertise in striking, he has more career submission victories than knockouts. While believing it caused his downfall, Gaethje understands why Topuria welcomed the grappling exchanges instead of keeping the fight standing.
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“When I went down, it’s always easier to make these decisions in hindsight, but when I went down, he’s had way more submissions than he has knockouts,” Gaethje continued. “So for him not to have that belief that he’s going to be able to go down there, especially with the Khabib fight. Especially with the Charles Oliveira fight. Especially with all the negativity around my grappling, you know, I think he would have been foolish not to [go for the submission] because I would have stood back up. I would have stood back up and he would have charged forward, trying to finish me.”
“I would have jumped on his legs, I would have pulled guard. He was going to end up on top of me no matter what. I wasn’t going to sit there and trade with him again. I would have front-rolled into grappling situations or whatever. I would have made him cover me.”
Alongside his own game plan and ability inside the octagon, Justin Gaethje attributes his win to Ilia Topuria’s mistake, using Shane Carwin‘s infamous energy crash against Brock Lesnar as the prime example.
“I think me getting hit is what made him completely blow his [tank], Shane Carwin-esque,” Gaethje stated. “Blow his tank and go for the win. And I think that was the choice he had to make because it was going to continue to get worse. I beat his ass in the first round. Like, it might have been close on the scorecards. I absolutely took the first round, but the amount of damage that I inflicted in the first round set up the rest of the fight.”
Listen to Justin Gaethje and Joe Rogan recall the title-winning performance at UFC Freedom 250 and more in the video below.
