Five years and three months after a Fight of the Year battle against Dustin Poirier, one he ultimately lost via fourth-round TKO, one-time interim UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has an opportunity to right the wrong this weekend. Considering the pot of gold which hangs in the balance for Saturday night’s main event winner, the stakes couldn’t be any higher for The Highlight.
Gaethje: Chance at retribution driving me to work harder
Lightweight headliner: Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje 2 for the BMF title
Della Center in Utah’s Salt Lake City, United States
Main card starts on Sunday, 3am BST – BT Sport in UK, ESPN+ in US
- “I’ve accepted that this is a 50-50 fight in my mind. I have to be more technical, no matter what, I’m obviously willing to fight fire with fire – that’s what we do in this game – but try to be as methodical as possible, make no mistakes,” Gaethje unafraid to share his gameplan and mindset
- “I think this is No. 2 vs. No. 3, No. 1 is fighting the champion in October, then we’re going to fight the winner of that, the winner of this fight. The aspirations are the championship belt – this catapults me right to that,” Makhachev-Oliveira 2 is all systems go for UFC 294 on October 21, the Poirier-Gaethje 2 winner will likely face the victor in next title fight
- “If he wants to technically kickbox and grapple with me – I think his best chances are to catch me being crazy, landing a shot. If he tries to take his time and be methodical, I’m going to show you levels. For sure. He’s kind of got that aura about him now as the chaos, most violent and all that – I really am that, he knows, so let’s go there,” Poirier’s warning for Gaethje
You don’t need to reiterate how important this upcoming Dustin Poirier fight is for Justin Gaethje – a rematch, after all – one he’s itching to get back, at the first time of asking. He’s 24-4 in his career, and this is the most pressing retribution he can earn.
Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira can wait. This promises to be a battle of wills between divisional contenders who’ve reached the precipice – separated by two months in age (both 34), neither can afford another loss here.
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Being methodical and not making mistakes is fanciful when it comes to someone of Gaethje’s nature. He tried that approach against Rafael Fiziev in March and well, earned a majority decision win, but still absorbed 97 significant strikes at a 57% clip.
Experience paid dividends. Fiziev got outworked and wasn’t able to execute his attacks with as much efficiency, despite outstriking him 59-52 in the first two rounds.
The 34-year-old’s R3 takedown probably sealed the deal in an important result both physically and psychologically against a rising contender whose hype had become too difficult to ignore. Physically, this showed his punch resistance still remains.
How long for, remains something to monitor on a fight-by-fight basis after seeing the way Tony Ferguson’s career has declined rapidly since their battle three years ago.
Psychologically, he’s still atop – or thereabouts – a ruthless division where he’s twice lost to the then-champion, first Khabib Nurmagomedov and recently Oliveira.
If he wants a third crack, he must avenge a painful defeat against another elite fighter who similarly has championship level demons of his own to navigate.
Poirier bullish, but why wouldn’t he be?
Things could have turned out so differently for Dustin Poirier, but you may argue the same way in regards to multiple elite-level fighters who don’t quite bridge the gap and become world champion.
Winning and producing an encouraging display until he suddenly found himself submitted by Oliveira.
Tearful after falling short in a valiant effort against Khabib two years earlier, history repeated itself – same round, same method of defeat, another sinking feeling.
One-time title challenger Michael Chandler certainly had his moments and with a bit more composure could and probably would’ve finished things in the first-round of their frantic firefight last November, but that’s the fight game.
One misstep, a subtle mistake, can flip the script without warning and rather emphatically too. Valentina Shevchenko and Gaethje’s teammate Kamaru Usman are just two examples of now-former long-reigning champions who can attest to that previous sentence, dating back a few months in both cases with stoppage defeats.
Poirier has been with the promotion longer than both (2010, counting the WEC) and still not overcome the hump.
Time’s ticking, which speaks to the anxiety he feels when discussing a heavily-anticipated rematch that will only add another layer as far as legacy is concerned.
“When they called me with Justin potentially being the opponent, those butterflies, that anxiety hit me right away. We have to do this, it’s the one.
It was five years ago I beat him, we’ve done great things [since] and were just on a collision course to do it again. No. 2, No. 3 – No. 1 is fighting the champ – just makes sense in the division.”
So, will he get his hand raised again and move one step closer to the UFC lightweight championship that has proved so elusive in the past?
UFC 291 card, is as follows
Main card (Sunday, 3am BST)
Lightweight: Dustin Poirier [2] vs. Justin Gaethje [3]
Light-heavyweight: Jan Blachowicz [3] vs. Alex Pereira [2 MW]
Welterweight: Stephen Thompson [7] vs. Michel Pereira [15]
Lightweight: Tony Ferguson vs. Bobby Green
Welterweight: Michael Chiesa [12] vs. Kevin Holland
Prelims, early prelims (Saturday, from 11pm BST)
Welterweight: Gabriel Bonfim vs. Trevin Giles
Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis [10] vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima [15]
Middleweight: Roman Kopylov vs. Claudio Ribeiro
Welterweight: Jake Matthews vs. Darrius Flowers
Flyweight: C.J. Vergara vs. Vinicius Salvador
Welterweight: Matthew Semelsberger vs. Uros Medic
Women’s Flyweight: Miranda Maverick vs. Priscila Cachoeira
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via mmajunkie
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