Justin Gaethje has fired back at Ilia Topuria’s bold prediction ahead of their UFC Freedom 250 headliner at the White House on Sunday.
Gaethje, the interim lightweight champion with a 27-5 MMA and 10-5 UFC record, is set to face undisputed champion Topuria, who enters the bout undefeated at 17-0 in MMA and 9-0 in the UFC. Topuria has stated that his fight with Gaethje will not go past the first round.
Responding to the talk, Gaethje said, "He's been wrong about me so many times," and pointed to his interim title win over Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324. "When he heard that I was going to fight Paddy Pimblett, he said I had zero chance, and I definitely won that fight."
Gaethje acknowledged Topuria’s finishing threat but emphasized the unpredictability of the matchup. "I'm not sure what he thinks or why he thinks the way he thinks, but this is a crazy sport. He definitely could knock me out in the first two minutes. It wouldn't be because he's that much better than me. It's because this sport is so f*cking crazy, and anything can happen."
With Topuria riding a knockout streak over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira, Gaethje believes the champion’s first-round prediction could become a burden. "He's backed himself into a corner," Gaethje said. "Because when we go to a second round, how's he going to justify that to himself? We go to the third round and he's bleeding, how's he going to justify that to himself when it should have been over already in his mind? I do not go in there with expectations. I expect a 25-minute war, and I expect to have to dig deep and have to overcome a lot of adversity, and I'm ready to do that."
