Justin Gaethje News

Tom Taylor - May 22, 2018

On the latest edition of his Call Me Al podcast, UFC lightweight star Al Iaquinta suggested that he could be fighting former World Series of Fighting champion Justin Gaethje this summer. Iaquinta divulged this gem of information when a fan called into the show and asked, point-blank, whether he would be fighting Gaethje. Interestingly, Iaquinta said he was.

Tom Taylor - April 27, 2018

New Zealand lightweight Dan Hooker is now on an impressive three-fight win-streak, and he’s hoping to be rewarded for this success with a big step up in competition. In particular, he’s hoping to fight former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, who he considers “the stupidest guy in the division.” Hooker made his callout of Gaethje on a recent episode of Submission Radio. Here’s what he had to say about the former WSOF champ:

Tom Taylor - April 16, 2018

On Saturday night, in the main event of the UFC’s anticipated stop in Glendale, Arizona, long-time UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier and former World Series of Fighting lightweight champ Justin Gaethje stepped into the cage for one of the most anticipated matchups in recent memory. In the end, this matchup delivered in the way we all hoped, as Poirier and Gaethje bludgeoned each other into unrecognizable piles of black-and-blue flesh, until Poirier put an end to things with a volley of fourth-round punches. Not long after this unforgettable war, which saw both men pocket $50,000 Fight of the Night checks, Poirier took to Twitter to thank his vanquished foe for the scrap. See Poirier’s short but sweet thank you message to Gaethje below.

Chris Taylor - April 15, 2018

PHOTOS | Dustin Poirier’s right leg is jacked up following UFC on FOX 29 war with Justin Gaethje Surging UFC lightweight contender Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier scored a thrilling fourth-round TKO victory over Justin Gaethje at last night’s UFC on FOX 29 event in Glendale.

Chris Taylor - April 14, 2018

UFC Glendale Results: Dustin Poirier stops Justin Gaethje A key lightweight fight between perennial division contenders Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethke served as the headliner of tonight’s UFC on FOX 29 event in Glendale, Arizona.

Tom Taylor - April 13, 2018

Tomorrow night, the UFC will take over Glendale, Arizona’s Gila River Arena with an exciting, 14-fight card. This UFC Glendale card will be headlined by a lightweight showdown between long-time contender Dustin Poirier, and former World Series of Fighting champion Justin Gaethje. The co-main event of the evening, meanwhile, will pit former interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit against Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira, who steps in to replace the injured Matt Brown on short notice. Other features of this UFC Glendale main card include the sophomore UFC effort of red-hot prospect Israel Adesanya, who battles Italy’s Marvin Vettori, and a women’s strawweight bout between former Invicta atomweight champ Michelle Waterson and Cortney Casey. The undercard, finally, includes names like Tim Boetsch, Antonio Carlos Junior, John Moraga, Wilson Reis, Krzysztof Jotko, Brad Tavares, Dhiego Lima, and Yushin Okami.

Drake Riggs - April 12, 2018

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet, so he guided them to their desired haven… This isn’t always the case in MMA…not even close. As our combat-loving gods have shown over the years, they are very, very, very merciless. The evidence can be seen with the entire fight week leading up to UFC 223 this past week. On April Fools Day of all days out of the 365 days in a year, the UFC announced to the world that interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson had been injured out of his main event title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. That by itself was enough to put everyone into a frenzy of disbelief.

Tom Taylor - April 12, 2018

Former World Series of Fighting lightweight champ and current UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje is loved for his exciting, all-action style. Yet according to Dustin Poirier, who Gaethje fights this Saturday night in the UFC Glendale main event, the former WSOF champ’s style could lead to a very short career. “It’s not (a sustainable style), and I said that when he was with World Series of Fighting,” Poirier told MMAFighting this week. “I’m good friends with (American Top Team coach) Mike Brown, who’s also an MMA mastermind. He understands fighting and understands styles and matchup, and I’ve told him that before, that this guy is going to have to switch his fighting style or he’s going to have a short career. He’s going to have a bunch of fun paydays and a bunch of memorable fights, but it’s not going to last. Once it starts going downhill, it’s going to go down fast for him, fighting like that. Of course he’s going to catch guys here and there, win some bonuses, and like I said, have some great fights that people are going to remember. And it seems like that’s what he’s fighting for. He loves that, and that’s awesome.”

Drake Riggs - March 14, 2018

One of the most inspirational and captivating fighters we’ve ever seen has to be “Notorious” Nick Newell. Newell is most well known for being the fighter with one arm. But this hasn’t affected the highly decorated college wrestler what so ever as he’s amassed a professional MMA record of 14-1 with eleven of those wins coming by way of finish(nine submissions, two knockouts).

Chris Taylor - March 10, 2018

UFC on FOX 29: Gaethje vs. Poirier Fight Card The octagon invades Glendale, Arizona on April 14 for the promotions UFC on FOX 29: Gaethje vs. Poirier event.

Justin Golightly - February 16, 2018

If the fourth time is the charm, Khabib Nurmagoemdov and Tony Ferguson will finally fight in what is one of the most anticipated and high level fights in the world. There is another lightweight fight that everyone is talking about, which is Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier’s wild scrap at UFC Glendale. Nurmagomedov is adamant that he’ll be fighting for the real belt, and so is Poirier. He’s focused on taking out the former WSOF lightweight champion and testing himself against Nurmagomedov, who he predicts will be the true UFC lightweight champion. “I’m on the right track. I’ve just got to keep winning and winning solves everything. So, I’m going to come out here in two months and beat [Justin] Gaethje, and I feel like I might get a title shot. I feel like I should get a title shot with that win. I think they’re stripping Conor [McGregor] here, and they’re going to fight for the real belt. This sport is a crazy thing, and what happens, it’s unpredictable. But I think the winner of Tony Ferguson versus Khabib [Nurmagomedov] is going to be the real, undisputed UFC lightweight champion. Just the two styles, I think Khabib’s going to pressure him and be stronger and better on top, harder to submit. I mean, if Kevin Lee can take Ferguson down, Khabib is going to do the same.”

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

In a couple of months, Rose Namajunas will march into the Octagon again to see if she can beat former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk back-to-back at UFC 223. Teammate and friend Justin Gaethje thinks it’s as good as wrapped up already. Citing difficulties with her weight cut, Jedrzejczyk says things will be different this time in the rematch. Gaethje thinks that the way Namajunas won, didn’t have anything to do with the weight cut, which shouldn’t be an excuse anyway. “I think [Joanna Jedrzejczyk]’s weak-minded for [talking about her drastic weight cut complications], even if it is true. It’s her own business. And no matter what, it could be true to the core and you could have proof, who’s going to [care]? Like, I’m not going to support you. Okay, whose fault was it? At the end of the day, whose fault was it? It was your fault. Do you have a scale at your house? Then you get to step on the scale every single morning, just like every single one of us do. We worry about our weight the whole camp, and I’ve never had a nutritionist help me in my entire life. […] I made weight in college eating McDonald’s every day. It’s willpower. You either f-cking do it or you don’t do it.”

Drake Riggs - January 17, 2018

There is one word that will always follow Justin Gaethje for the rest of his career. You already know what it is…yup, violence. Pretty much every single one of Gaethje’s nineteen professional bouts has been violence personified and that’s just how the former World Series of Fighting champion likes it. In his last fight, he suffered his first ever career loss to former Bellator and UFC lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez in what was crowned by the UFC as the best fight of 2017. Reports have surfaced today from MMAJunkie’s Steven Marocco that Gaethje may have his next fight and it’s a matchup that will most certainly deliver the action. His opponent is expected to be Dustin “the Diamond” Poirier and it’s expected to happen at either UFC 222 on March 3 in Las Vegas or UFC 223 in Brooklyn, New York.

Drake Riggs - January 3, 2018

Violence, violence and more violence. If that’s the game then Justin Gaethje is the name! Gaethje was last seen in action when he took on former UFC and Bellator Lightweight champion, Eddie Alvarez at UFC 218 in what was a crazy fight to say the least. But that’s nothing new for the man known as “the Highlight”. Gaethje recently spoke about who he might like to fight next and one name that came to mind was that of recent title challenger, Kevin Lee. Today on Sirius XM’s MMA Tonight broadcast, “the MoTown Phenom” responded. .@MoTownPhenom responds to @Justin_Gaethje's callout: "I like easy money. Justin likes to take a lot of damage. I like to give a lot of damage. It seems like a good matchup to me." @MieshaTate @realOCsports pic.twitter.com/5Y1z1DVgdd

Justin Golightly - January 2, 2018

Even with a loss, Justin Gaethje has had an incredible year. He walked away from his five-time defended WSOF lightweight title to finally sign on with the UFC, much to the rallying cries of fans and the blessing of the violence gods. He put on MMA Fighting’s ‘Fight of the Year’ with Michael Johnson, then had another ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 218. For now, he’s going to let the body and brain rest, but he’s already contemplating who he wants to fight next. Who better than Kevin Lee, the last fighter to lose to interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson? “First time I ever met [Kevin Lee], he was nice. Then he talked sh-t saying I was fan-boying over him. He doesn’t know what respect is. I’ll never show him respect again, that’s for sure. I just like punching loudmouths in the face. I’m sure I’ll get the itch [to fight again] sooner rather than later. I said I wanted to wait around until June, July, but I’m sure I’ll get the itch sooner. It’s too soon [right now], but we’ll see how things play out. I might want to beat up Kevin Lee, that kid over there I want to beat up.” — Justin Gaethje speaking today on The MMA Hour.

Justin Golightly - December 19, 2017

If Justin Gaethje would have managed to get through Eddie Alvarez, no question he would have been pushed toward a title shot. Unfortunately, the former WSOF champion finally met his match after being undefeated for 18 fights. He was proud to go out on shield, but of course he wanted to walk out with the leverage he would have gotten from a huge win. Either way, the warrior that Gaethje is just shrugs and moves on. He’ll set his eyes on a fight with Dustin Poirier or Kevin Lee next. “When you win, you get to pick somebody in front of you, but when you lose; I am still ranked No. 5 in the world, UFC, so coming off a loss now I get to give somebody behind me a chance. So, we will see which one of these loudmouths, Kevin Lee, Dustin Poirier. One of them is going to have to get me on my comeback. So I’m trying for that.”

Justin Golightly - December 14, 2017

Eddie Alvarez’s fight with Justin Gaethje came and went and it was everything they said it would be and more. Leading up to the fight, Alvarez created an unofficial title forged in violence that would be up for grabs in their UFC 218 bout. His jaw swollen like it contained a softball, Alvarez captured that invisible belt and put himself back in title contention for the lightweight strap. The brutal and grueling war these two put on, while crowd-pleasing, had Paul Felder looking at things in a completely different way. …These guys are potentially damaging their careers. “That’s the goal, right? Hit and don’t get hit. That’s why I train so hard in camp and I spar and we do everything so specifically because I want to get in there and I want get the job done. […] I’m always prepared for a three-round war, but I’m just not trying to be in them. You’ve got Eddie [Alvarez], who’s trying to be the ‘Most Violent Guy,’ and [Justin] Gaethje, who’s looking for an equal. Go ahead. You guys can go and fight over that. Meanwhile, I’ll silently be knocking everyone out and working my way to the top 10, top five, and sneak right in there and take that title shot from you guys.”

Justin Golightly - December 7, 2017

Eddie Alvarez watching his Gaethje KO: “He’ll recover within like a quarter second and then you’ll be in a whole ‘nother fight again. That’s the kind of animal Justin Gaethje is.” pic.twitter.com/3xPMBImfJ0