The UFC White House main event between Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje is growing more personal by the hour.
For months, the unification of the Lightweight titles was fairly respectful. Topuria confident asserted he was going to win via knockout, and Gaethje understandably argued otherwise — pretty routine stuff in the world of combat sports. A week ago, however, Gaethje’s father made a prediction about how Gaethje would beat up the short former Featherweight, and it struck a nerve.
Since then, all
bets are off. Topuria immediately fired back at Papa Gaethje, and “The Highlight” started referencing Topuria’s messy divorce. Topuria accused Gaethje of crossing a line with those comments, and then the war of words continued online shortly afterward.
“Proving my point,” Gaethje responded to Topuria’s line crossing comment. “Insufferable little b—ch boy. Never said a thing about your wife. You want to speak words to my father then act like I crossed some line. We already fighting buddy.”
Ilia Topuria is currently a nearly 7-1 favorite over Gaethje, the two-time interim champion.
“You should’ve kept your father out of this,” Topuria wrote back. “He was the one calling me a short guy and saying you’d smash me, all while holding a beer in his hand. Then you started talking about my divorce and telling the world you wouldn’t want to be my roommate. Idiot. First, we’re fighting, not dating. Second, I’m not looking for a roommate. When I put you to sleep and you’re lying there next to the rose, I’ll look at your father and ask him one simple question: Who’s the short one now? I’m gonna break you Justin.”
Topuria vs. Gaethje was hardly the most in-demand Lightweight matchup available, but perhaps that’s changed? There’s now an element of bad blood that seems genuine, and we already knew both men were going to push hard for the knockout.
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