After UFC Freedom 250 took place on Sunday, Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje proved all his haters wrong once again. It’s amazing that so many people continue to look at Justin as a reckless, sloppy fighter who has no technique. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Justin Gaethje has been the most exciting fighter since he entered the UFC back in 2017, where he kickstarted his career by winning Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night bonuses in his TKO win over Michael Johnson. After that night, Justin never looked back and has been a household name in the UFC for nearly a decade now.
His path to gold has never been easy. His extensive resume is up there with the greatest in UFC history. Facing guys like Edson Barboza, Donald Cerrone, Tony Ferguson, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, and now Ilia Topuria.
The gauntlet has been thrown his way, and after failing to win undisputed gold two separate times in his career against Khabib and Charles, the third time was the charm. Despite being 37 years old, Justin looked the best he has ever looked in his absolute masterclass against Ilia.
The beating he put on Topuria has never been seen before. After just the first round, Ilia’s face was chewed up. His eyes were black and blue, and his ego had taken a massive hit. The fear and doubt was written all over his face;he just realized how good Gaethje actually is, and all that trash talk may have backfired.
Ilia bounced back in Round 2 and dropped Justin badly after ripping heavy body shots to the liver while he had him pressed up against the cage. Justin dug deep and pushed through to barely survive Round 2. This is where the fight began to shift. Ilia was now getting extremely tired, and the fatigue was beginning to show. His power and speed were not what they were in Round 1, and the lack of experience was now evident.
We have not seen how Topuria would do in the later rounds of a fight due to all his early stoppages. But, like Justin referred to in the press conference, his championship-round experience and stamina would win him this fight.
Justin continued to land at will and dropped Ilia with a massive right hand in Round 3, the onslaught continued for the remainder of the fight and Justin would go on to shock the world as a near 6-to-1 underdog.
There is no better feeling than humbling an opponent and that is exactly what Justin did. Ilia was so cocky and disrespectful throughout the lead up to this fight, even going as far as throwing a celebration party before the fight even took place. Now, Justin Gaethje is the lightweight champion, and Ilia Topuria’s future is up for question. Will he bounce back from defeat, or let this affect the rest of his career? We shall see.
It couldn’t be a better comeback story for Justin Gaethje. As my favorite fighter, I hope the world now appreciates all he has done for this sport and will continue to do.