Justin Gaethje recently defeated Rafael Fiziev at UFC 286 in London just last month. Gaethje dominated and put on a striking clinic despite being a seasoned wrestler.
Justin Gaethje is known for his incredible knockout power and willingness to exchange with his opponents, leading him to have some of the most exciting contests in MMA.
He was born in Safford, Arizona, to a lineage of copper miners, and was a high school wrestler before becoming an NCAA Division I wrestler for the University of Northern Colorado. He made his amateur debut in MMA in 2008 and his professional debut in 2011, with a first-round knockout victory.
He became a two-time state champion during his time as a high school wrestler and won 18 of his first 21 fights via knockout. After winning an undefeated championship reign at WSOF, he made his UFC debut in 2017, winning by knockout.
He won the Lightweight Interim UFC title in 2020 and lost the undisputed title bout to Khabib Nurmagomedov. He proved doubters wrong and improved his defensive skills, leading to his success in the sport.
Back in his WSOF days, a journalist decided to play a prank on Gaethje and usher in the April’s fools together.
The so called reporter proceeded to mispronounce Gaethje’s name and once corrected even had the gall to ask to basically keep mispronouncing it.
As for Gaethje, he’s likely to face Poirier again in a title eliminator. He made a real case for himself after he manhandled Fiziev.
Fiziev’s face went viral thanks to the damage he had taken. Gaethje received praise from MMA fans for rendering an impressive collage of battered faces.
But UFC fans pointed out this is more of a trend than an outlier.
Michael Chandler’s face resembled that of an alien after a war with Gaethje. For those who are spacing out, Chandler even had his son not recognize him thanks to the amount of swelling there was in his face.
And this wasnt’ the worst of it either. Gaethje is widely credited for derailing the career of Tony Ferguson after a head-on collision type war.
Ferguson dropped a decision to Gaethje and was never the same again. Since then, he’s fallen quite a bit from grace and is even unranked right now with Kevin Lee confirming he’s set to rematch Ferguson in his welterweight debut later this year.