Justin Gaethje Explains Why he Thrives Best Under Pressure: “I love the pressure that it brings and I love showing off”
Justin Gaethje is someone who finds himself becoming galvanized by having to shoulder high pressures and he finds himself in yet another one of these scenarios this weekend. The former UFC interim lightweight champ and BMF titleholder looks to have another moment hoisting interim gold when Gaethje clashes with Paddy Pimblett in the main event of UFC 324 on January 24th.
On the inaugural episode of the UFC 324 embedded series, ‘The Highlight’ spoke about his ability to mentally and emotionally regulate leading up to that octagon walkout, as Gaethje said,
“I’m ready to go out there. I’ve been in this situation so many times and I love the pressure that it brings and I love showing off. So I can’t wait to put on a performance next weekend against a dangerous guy like Paddy. I think the advantages I have over Paddy are experience. I’ve been there so many times with the highest level, and I do think he’s going to be trying to kill me and he’s going to be throwing at 100%, and I’ve got to take advantage of the mistakes he’s going to make.”
Justin Gaethje and the unique historical connotations of UFC 324
While Justin Gaethje is in the mixed martial arts history books as the only fighter to hold belts in WSOF, now PFL, and UFC, the performance of the night bonus generating machine has another chance to become interwoven into history in the coming days.
As mentioned earlier, Gaethje has previously been the interim UFC champ at 155 pounds. With a win over Paddy Pimblett on Saturday, Gaethje would cement himself as the only fighter in history to become a two time interim champion in the thirty plus year tenure of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
It would be curious to contemplate what such a distinction would mean to Justin Gaethje, a combatant who famously let his interim UFC strap drop to the canvas after besting Tony Ferguson in early 2020 to garner it.
