Justin Gaethje thinks Ilia Topuria is too small for lightweight.
At UFC White House, Gaethje scored one of the biggest upsets in MMA history, stopping Topuria to claim the UFC lightweight title. It was the first loss of Topuria’s MMA career, and one he’s had trouble accepting, recently accusing Gaethje of loading his gloves before the fight.
Speaking on the FLAGRANT podcast, Gaethje dismissed Topuria’s accusations entirely and offered his own explanation for why “El Matador” struggled against him:
he’s too small.
“He honestly has to believe that I cheated, because if not, how could you do it again? I broke his face,” Gaethje said.
“… I don’t think he’s a lightweight. I think he should go down. I think he can beat [Alexander] Volkanovski and be champion at featherweight. I don’t think he’ll ever be champion at lightweight. He can’t beat Arman [Tsarukyan]. He’s going to have a difficult time with Paddy [Pimblett]. There’s a bunch of dogs. This sport is crazy, so obviously a little luck, a little chance always involved. Can he get lucky, and is he skilled enough? Absolutely. I think he’s undersized for lightweight. That’s what I felt.”
Topuria spent most of his MMA career at featherweight, winning the UFC title and defending the belt once before moving up to 155 and knocking out Charles Oliveira to claim the vacant lightweight title. But after losing the title to Gaethje, Topuria is lobbying for an immediate rematch, but Gaethje isn’t entirely sure he’ll ever fight again.
“Everyone is like, ‘You f*cking fight Arman!’ I don’t know what the fight — I have injuries I have to take care of. I haven’t made a decision,” Gaethje said. “But I am 37 years old. My first fight was 2008. I’ve had 40 fights, including my amateur fights. So I don’t know.
“Who knows? I don’t need to. This has never been about money for me. It’s about health. …”
“I do not feel like I have anything left to prove,” added later. “My first fight was in ‘08. I’m 37 years old. But I know that I also just performed better than I’ve ever performed, so I’m stuck in between a rock and a hard place. I have my faculties. I want to keep my faculties. I have nothing left to prove. So, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s interesting. Fun. It’s a good position to be in.”
Gaethje went on to mention Conor McGregor as a fight he would like, adding that after beating Topuria, he no longer feels the need to get revenge on Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway, the last two men to defeat him.
“Obviously, the people that beat me, I want back,” Gaethje said. “And I know how big of a bitch I sound when I say this, but the fact that Ilia knocked out Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway, which are the only two people who are still there that have beat me, I’m OK. I’m OK with those. I’m OK with them beating me, and I’m OK making the guy quit that finished them. As stupid as that — I don’t know if that’s cowardly, but I’m just OK with it.”
But ultimately, if he does choose to continue fighting, Gaethje knows it doesn’t matter who he might want to fight; there’s only one man who deserves the next lightweight title shot.
“It’s not that I don’t want to fight Arman; it really isn’t. He’s the next in line,” Gaethje said. “If and when I defend this championship, that will be who I fight. I just don’t know right now. … I gave a lot of myself for this fight in January and June. Luckily, I came out on top, but it cost me a lot, so I need to recover. I need to rest my brain, because a lot of training went into those fights.
“I’m going to enjoy being champion the rest of the year. I’m going to make a business decision and a life decision whenever the time comes.”
