Justin Gaethje Breaks Down How He Defeated Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250
Precision beats power, and timing beats speed.” Justin Gaethje embodied that philosophy perfectly as he dethroned Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC Freedom 250 this past weekend.
The newly minted undisputed lightweight titleholder had predicted that Topuria would not be able to knock him out in the first or second frame. As the bout progressed to the championship rounds, he would take the lead and batter “El Matador.”
On June 14, the 29-year-old came out aggressively from the opening bell, looking to send “The Highlight” to the shadow realm, but failed. Despite that, Topuria had his moments throughout the fight.
Meanwhile, Gaethje maintained the higher output and consistently landed the more damaging strikes, enough to nearly blind Topuria.
In Round 2, a frustrated “El Matador” dropped Gaethje with back-to-back body shots and even attempted to submit “The Highlight,” but the latter survived.
As Round 3 began, the 37-year-old was the fresher fighter who once more took control of the fight’s pace, dropped Topuria, and continued punishing him. By the end of Round 4, the Georgian-Spaniard’s corner had seen enough and decided to stop the fight, as Topuria’s face was completely pieced up, leaving him with limited vision.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, Justin Gaethje explained how he did not absorb nearly as much damage as Topuria. he said:
“One world describes it all, and that’s timing… When you see my face and it’s not messed up… If you watch frame by frame, I am constantly dissipating the energy that he is trying to send in straight lines, and they are all coming off and glancing off of my body, and that is the timing that I have.”
Secondly, Justin Gaethje shared with fans how he enters the octagon every time without expectations and weighed in on how he fought the perfect fight to dethrone “El Matador.
“I was able to reset his feet every 1-2 seconds. I was very diligent about it and I fought a perfect fight. He was completely caught off guard… I said when we go to [Rounds] 2-3, you’re gonna be in hell. That’s where he was.”
Check out Justin Gaethje’s comments below:
Justin Gaethje does not plan to enter the octagon again in 2026
“The Highlight” has already engaged in 2 back-to-back slugfests this year: The first one was against Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324, and the second one was against Ilia Topuria this past weekend at the White House.
After back-to-back camps, “The Highlight” is not game to fight a third time this year. On The Pat McAfee Show, he said:
“I’ve already fought twice this year, and it’s very rare for me to compete more than twice in a year. So there’s a very, very small chance I even consider fighting this year again.”
Check out Justin Gaethje’s comments below:
Gaethje and Topuria have both been handed a 180-day medical suspension. “The Highlight” has a 45-day mandatory suspension, and Topuria has a 60-day mandatory suspension for knockout as per MMA Fighting.
