MMA analysis: Beautiful violence - An appreciation of Justin Gaethje
Professional fighters belong to a special breed of human, but even amongst the UFC roster, Justin Gaethje stands out.
There are some fighters you just can’t miss. These are the careers you’ll be proud to tell newer fans that you witnessed in real time.
When every fight feels like a promise of something spectacular, it’s not a wonder whether something exciting will happen, but when.
In the modern era, there’s one fighter that stands head and shoulders above the others in this regard: Justin Gaethje, the aptly named ‘Human Highlight.’
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Ollie Hughes pens a love letter to arguably the most exciting fighter in the history of MMA.
Savage, honest, flawed
In a world of hype, trash talk and gimmicks, Gaethje is the kind of fighter that doesn’t need a marketing machine behind him. His business is violence, and business is good.
No other fighter has the trust of fans in the same way Gaethje does. He’s loved not because he’s the best, but for his commitment to inflicting as much damage as possible, with no regard to his own well-being.
Not only this, he represents a disappearing kind of fighter: savage, honest, flawed and shaped by a sport that doesn’t protect its own.
Reckless but effective
Cutting his teeth in the World Series of Fighting (now PFL), Justin was a must-sign prospect during his 2013-2016 run that saw him claim the inaugural lightweight title in the org.
Earning a reputation for brutal knockouts and his reckless but effective use of leg kicks, it was only a matter of time before he was called up to the big leagues.
Signing in 2017, Justin was immediately thrown in the deep end against a ranked opponent.
In his UFC debut, he faced the famously inconsistent and #9-ranked Michael Johnson, with previous wins over Dustin Poirier, Edson Barboza and Tony Ferguson.
With a vicious TKO victory, the fight was an instant classic and solidified Gaethje as not only a contender in the UFC’s premier division, but must watch sports entertainment.
Hard lessons
Despite an explosive debut, hard lessons came after. Against Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier, Gaethje ran headlong into the true elites of the division, where grit alone wasn’t enough.
Both fights followed a familiar pattern: early momentum, heavy exchanges and the sense that Gaethje could still drag anyone into deep waters.
Until he couldn’t. Alvarez met him with equal stubbornness and better craft, Poirier with sharper shot selection and a willingness to punish every defensive lapse.
Gaethje fought them the only way he knew, trusting his chin and his will, but at this level, it just wasn’t enough.
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A fighter evolved
The losses didn’t diminish him, but they did expose a hard truth: the style that had carried him this far was never going to take him to the top.
It was only after these setbacks that the evolved form of Justin Gaethje could take shape. And carefully moulding him from the sidelines was his coach, Trevor Whitman.
Whitman had been coaching Justin since his amateur career, but it was only after back-to-back losses that the holes in his game became more apparent, and the pair ascended to the highest tiers of the sport.
Controlled chaos
What followed wasn’t a reinvention so much as an intervention. Whitman wasn’t teaching Gaethje to curb his edges so much as when not to crash into them.
The chaos didn’t disappear. It was never meant to. But what Justin took from these losses is that patience can be a weapon and defence doesn’t mean compromising what made him great.
These adjustments resulted in a string of highlight reel KOs that culminated in one of the most shocking and one-sided fights in UFC history: Gaethje vs Ferguson.
Dialed in
Taking place in the shadow of COVID-19, the interim title fight felt all the more significant for the fact that it was essentially the only major sporting event at the time.
Broadcast from behind closed doors, in the deathly silence of an empty arena, every blow rang out as Gaethje put on a career-altering beatdown on Ferguson. Justin was dialled in and finally looked like a championship-calibre fighter.
Despite never managing to unify the interim belt, Justin has had a more than respectable career since and always gone out on his shield, win or lose.
Successfully gatekeeping against rising prospects and even managing to get that W back against Poirier, he’s given everything to this sport, even when too much has been asked of him.
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A legacy like no other
When Gaethje inevitably retires, he’ll leave a legacy that even the greatest fighters cannot equal. Jones, GSP, and Silva, all of the greats, have accusations of coasting or taking rounds off to ensure an easy decision victory.
The same cannot be said for Gaethje, and while he has never reached such lofty heights as those previously mentioned, his career is worth celebrating nonetheless.
There are easier ways to build a legacy, but Justin never seemed interested in that, taking the hardest fights on short notice and showing up every single time.
Although it seems the 155lb division is now being eclipsed by welterweight in terms of pure talent, Justin will go down as someone who championed it during a golden age.
One final run
On the 24th of January, he will face off against Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett in an interim lightweight title fight. A fight in which Justin will no doubt be the underdog, being six years Paddy’s senior and on the tail end of so many wars.
He knows what’s at stake and is under no illusion that this is his final chance at eventually taking undisputed gold.
When all is said and done, Justin doesn’t need a belt to validate his career. But with everything he’s given the UFC and us as fans, he’s earned the right to one last chance.
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