Justin Gaethje Loves Walking Into The Fire

Gaethje is one of a select number of individuals in this sport that can be counted on to turn up and be fully committed to leaving everything in the Octagon each time out, so concerns that he may no longer have the same hunger and drive as before are most likely misguided, especially considering what’s at stake.

Interim titles get a bad rap at times, but winning a championship at this level, interim or not, is a major accomplishment. Ask anyone that never won UFC gold if they would like to have an interim title on their resume, and chances are you’re going to get a very quick “Of course!” Belts bring greater exposure, bigger opportunities, and a bump up in salary.

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On top of that, holding an interim title typically results in one of two things happening: either you end up being promoted to undisputed champion or you fight for the undisputed title whenever the incumbent is ready to return.

Gaethje knows this firsthand, having won the interim title with his masterful performance against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, which set up his “winner takes all” meeting with Khabib Nurmagomedov five months later in Abu Dhabi. A win this weekend would put him in the same situation as everyone waits to find out when current lightweight titleholder Ilia Topuria will return.

“It’s an honor the UFC has put me in this position,” he said. “They obviously get to make all the choices and they picked me, so I’m pumped.”

A victory on Saturday night may not dramatically change Gaethje’s legacy — it’s pretty well established at this point — but it would (in all likelihood) secure him one more chance to capture the thing that has eluded him since touching down in the UFC as an unbeaten wrecking machine in the summer of 2017.

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Legacies are a complicated topic, and rather than get hung up on how the general public is going to remember him — with or without a UFC title win — “The Highlight” wishes those that discuss fighters, their careers and where they fall in the pantheon could experience the surge of emotions and adrenaline he’ll experience for the 32nd time in his career this weekend.

“It’s hard because these fans are so fickle, and the recency bias is so relevant when it comes to them thinking about this sport,” Gaethje said. “I get to walk into the fire on Saturday night, and one thing I know about all these opinions is that these are people that would never take chances on themselves or walk into the fire.

“I walk into the fire. I understand the danger. I wish everybody could feel what I’m gonna feel on Saturday without the danger aspect, but they can’t, and so I’m just gonna enjoy what I get to feel and feel sorry for people that will never feel that.”

This far into his career, there is very little that Gaethje hasn’t encountered. Just as he’s pragmatic about UFC 324 being much closer to the finish line than the starting gate, the lightweight standout is also pretty honest when it comes to his experience, what people often get wrong in their breakdowns of fights, and one of the places he believes he has a significant advantage over the popular Scouser this weekend.

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“I’ve had some ups, had some downs, got to learn lessons, and there’s no more lessons to be learned,” he said. “If I don’t know everything I’m supposed to know by now, then I’m a fool because I’ve been through it all, and I’m ready to go out there and perform.

“I think they underestimate or have no idea how this sport works and how unpredictable it is… His confidence is a big variable for him, and he has a lot of momentum. Every competition is a battle of and for momentum, and so it’s something that I’m gonna have to steal early, but (he doesn’t do anything) surprising.