UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje believes that his knockout loss to Max Holloway back at UFC 300 was an important part of his story in mixed martial arts.
As we know, Justin Gaethje is the undisputed 155-pound champion in the UFC courtesy of blockbuster wins over Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria – with the latter being the kind of upset that many people couldn’t believe. Along the way, though, Gaethje has certainly been on a rollercoaster ride in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Despite losing a handful of fights, Justin Gaethje never allowed that to set him back too much on his path to greatness. One of the worst of those defeats came courtesy of Max Holloway, who knocked him out cold in the last second of their UFC 300 encounter.
In a recent interview, Justin Gaethje spoke openly about that result and what it meant for his career.
Justin Gaethje looks back at Max Holloway defeat
“To be quite honest, I do feel like I have fulfilled my legacy,” Gaethje said in an interview with CBS Sports.
“I think that Max Holloway fight was a huge building block to the person and the legacy that I’ve built,” Gaethje said. “Without that, this win (over Topuria) wouldn’t have been as special, especially with Ilia beating him, knocking him out and then me going in there finding success. I couldn’t write it any better.”
“I still need to continue to fill out the pros and cons (of retirement), but ultimately I am in the fight until I’m not in the fight,” Gaethje said. “Inside me, I feel like the potential is as it’s always been. But I really rely on my team and my family to make these choices. When I will retire, I have no idea. How many (fights) I have left, I have no idea. It’s been one at a time since Day 1. I’m gonna continue to take it like that and trust in my team to have a conversation with me when they need to.” Quotes via MMA Junkie
Regardless of what went down at UFC 300, it’s safe to say that Justin is right – his legacy as one of the all-time lightweight greats has been cemented.
