Justin Gaethje is the undisputed UFC lightweight champion.
On Sunday, Gaethje delivered the greatest performance of his career, battering Ilia Topuria at UFC White House until Topuria’s corner threw in the towel. It’s the crowning achievement for Gaethje, who twice fought for the undisputed title before this and twice came up short. So to finally break through and do so in this fashion was special.
“All the theatrics and everything made it so much more spectacular,” Gaethje told The Pat McAfee Show
on Thursday. “You could not write a movie to match what we did. The show that we put on and the quality of the theatrics was absolutely insane. …
“Me succeeding that night —the further back into my career you go, the more special this whole thing really is. It’s just incredible to have had the opportunity to do it on a stage like that, with the production that it came with, it just made it all so much more special. It’s insane. It’s a crazy life. …
“Yesterday, my dad asked me, ‘How’s it feel waking up for the first time being champion?’ I haven’t even thought about it. I sat there and thought about it, and it’s absolutely insane.”
Gaethje’s win was not only spectacular because of the setting, but also the circumstances.
Topuria was the No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world heading into their fight, and a massive favorite over Gaethje, who, at 37 years old, acknowledged that this was his final opportunity to win undisputed gold. Before the fight, Gaethje even said that to win, he’d need to have a perfect performance, and breaking it down for McAfee, that’s just what he delivered.
“One word describes it all, and it’s ‘timing,’” Gaethje said. “The more you watch the sport, the more you can maybe grasp the concept of that. Creating angles, but sending direct lines of energy in straight lines through their body and through their face. When you see my face, and it’s not messed up, you’re like, something’s wrong with the skin. It’s really not that. If you watch frame by frame, I am constantly dissipating the energy that he’s trying to send in straight lines, and they’re all coming off and glancing off of my body. That’s the timing that I have.
“I said it in earlier interviews, my A to B is unmatched, and when I can lock in and be cerebral, and I’m in danger, my body does crazy things. I’m able to be so technical and intuitive and cerebral with my actions. It’s happening so fast. We’re like computers processing codes. You’re constantly making adjustments.
“I was able to reset his feet every one to two seconds. I was very diligent about it, and I fought a perfect fight. And he was completely caught off guard. He was not expecting it. That, obviously, is another part of this whole game, the expectations. I’ve said it many times, I don’t go in with expectations, that way I can never be surprised. That’s just the way I compete. He took the opposite approach. I said it before on your show, when we go to 2, when we go to 3, you’re going to be in hell, and that’s where he was.”
Having finally climbed to the top of the mountain and already a sure-fire UFC Hall of Famer, the question becomes, what’s next for Gaethje?
The new lightweight champion threatened retirement before the fight, and some fans have speculated that now would be the perfect time for him to walk away. Gaethje has not given a definitive answer on that, but if he does return, he made it clear that it’s extremely unlikely it would be in 2026.
“I already fought twice this year, and very rarely do you get me twice in one year,” Gaethje said. “So there’s very, very small chance that I would ever consider fighting this year again. What I put myself through.”
