Justin Gaethje is back in the spotlight after scoring an upset win over Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC White House, adding another major chapter to his long, turbulent run at the top of the lightweight division.
The two-time interim title holder and two-time undisputed title challenger has been through a gauntlet in recent years, including being finished in title fights by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira and suffering a knockout loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300.
“I mean, it doesn’t sound practical to say I never thought that it was gone,” Gaethje said while reflecting on his road back. “Because going through those two fights, and then the Max Holloway fight after that, it made it real difficult.”
Before the Holloway loss, Gaethje had rebuilt momentum. “Before the Max fight I was on a, what, two or three-fight winning streak? I had knocked out Dustin Poirier. I was definitely planning on fighting for the belt next. I think Oliveira had [the shot], that’s when Topuria came up to lightweight and they made that fight. So I was like, shit, that kind of throws a wrench in everything.”
Gaethje defeated Rafael Fiziev and then Paddy Pimblett, earning a lopsided decision win over Pimblett in the main event of UFC 324 in January to become a two-time interim lightweight champion. “I never really lost hope,” he said. “I knew that this sport was crazy, and I just had to put wins together. And, yeah, that was the mindset.”
