Justin Gaethje is often regarded as the most violent fighter on the current UFC roster. The ‘Highlight’ enjoys putting on a show for fight fans and always takes chances throughout his fights. His ability to continuously look for dishing out serious damage remains noteworthy. While most risks have yielded dividends, he has also faced brutal knockout losses as well.
Justin Gaethje’s last outing was at UFC 300 in a BMF title fight with Max Holloway. Both fighters put on a bloody fight for five rounds, which ended in the very last second of the five-round title fight. Gaethje decided to stand and bang with Holloway and got dropped face-first onto the canvas. As it turns out, Gaethje has no plans to face that again.
If I go to sleep like I did in my last fight then I’m done.
Justin Gaethje via MMA media
Gaethje is currently 35 years old and wouldn’t like to risk getting severe head trauma for the rest of his life. Fighters like Tony Ferguson refuse to grasp that concept and often find themselves on a losing streak. Coincidentally, Gaethje is popularly believed to be responsible for breaking Ferguson during their fight at UFC 249.
Previously, Justin Gaethje had mentioned that he has only three more fights in his tank. The American fighter revealed that he would like to get the lightweight title before retirement. One or two key wins over top lightweights could help get the title shot. However, Gaethje feels getting brutally knocked out like UFC 300 isn’t worth the belt.
Justin Gaethje talks about the hardest puncher he faced
Justin Gaethje has been fighting for more than a decade now and has a whopping 20 knockout finishes in his professional career. Gaethje is a hard hitter and always looks for knockouts. Besides the Max Holloway fight at UFC 300, Justin Gaethje has been part of some nasty wars in recent UFC history.
Justin Gaethje vs. Charles Oliveira (via South China Morning Post/X)Legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov once mentioned that Gaethje ‘hits like a truck.’ He has brutal knockout wins over fighters like Michael Johnson, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, and Edson Barboza, among others.
When Gaethje was asked the same question, the fighter claimed Charles Oliveira hit him with the hardest shot. He and the Brazilian shared the octagon at UFC 274, where he lost the bout via submission.
The best shot that landed on me was from Oliveira. It’s the same shot 100 times, you don’t see it one time and it’s just so much more effective. He caught me off guard by surprise and it hurt.
Justin Gaethje via UFC 298 Media Day
It was Justin Gaethje‘s second opportunity to get his hands on the title. Irrespective of the belt, Gaethje is vastly celebrated among fight fans who call him the ‘people’s champ.’ It would be interesting to see whether the American fighter manages to win the UFC lightweight title before retirement.
