Justin Gaethje’s fighting career came full circle under a pair of night skies nearly two decades apart.
In 2008, Gaethje had recently moved to Colorado and had just finished his freshman year wrestling at UNC. That summer, he picked up MMA, and his first amateur fight came in a boxing ring at an outdoor venue in Denver. There, Gaethje needed just 26 seconds to win via
“The Highlight” was born.
“(My opponent) was out cold for like 8 minutes,” Gaethje recalled. “And it was terrifying. I thought I killed him. I had never knocked somebody out before. Doing that the first time, I got hooked to that adrenaline rush. That’s really when I first knew that fighting was for me.”
While that fight foretold Gaethje’s legacy, his win a few weeks ago — again under the stars, but this time on a global stage on the South Lawn of the White House with a title on the line — cemented it.
By beating previously undefeated and heavily favored Ilia Topuria to claim the undisputed UFC lightweight belt for the first time in his career, Gaethje’s monumental upset cemented his legacy as a combat sports legend. After the Lakewood resident’s victory via technical knockout, UFC boss Dana White called the fight of the night at UFC 250 “one of the greatest fights you’ll ever see.”
“I think the win definitely solidifies my story,” Gaethje said. “I fought the top of the top from Day 1 (in the UFC). I came in saying I was going to be the best in the world, and I came in asking (any opponent) to be my equal. I met my equal (several times); I learned from those losses. I kept on going and kept on working and to accomplish everything that I have accomplished, but finally attain the undisputed gold, that’s second to none.”
Overcoming drugs, starting MMA
As Gaethje’s head coach, Trevor Wittman, explained on the the fighter went in the octagon outside the White House “and wrote a story that I don’t think will ever be forgotten.”
But before Gaethje pulled off one of the most shocking upsets in UFC history — and long before Gaethje emerged as a fan favorite — the Safford, Arizona, native grew up in a small mining town about two hours from the Mexican border.
Raised by blue-collar parents — dad John Ray worked at the nearby Morenci copper mine for 37 years, and mom Carolina spent 33 years with the postal service — Gaethje showed promise as a wrestler from a young age, and was also a football star as his high school’s quarterback and an all-state defensive back.
The summer after he finished high school, Gaethje worked 68 consecutive 14-hour days at the copper mine. When he left to go to UNC, a pair of his co-workers told him that he’d be back at the mine soon enough because he wouldn’t be able to cut it in Division I wrestling. Those doubters served as an early motivator, as did the desire not to spend his life doing manual labor in the mine.
“He knew how important it would be to go to school and pursue a degree (in human services),” John Ray Gaethje said. “That summer definitely made him realize he didn’t want to be working in the mines the rest of his life.”
Over the course of his upbringing, Gaethje admitted on the Joe Rogan Podcast that “I probably was a drug addict at one time in my life.” He said he lost “over a handful” of his childhood friends to drugs, but eventually realized his desire to compete on the mat and in the octagon superseded his need to chase a high.
“I always knew something was bigger for me and better for me, and that I had something to do (in fighting),” Gaethje said. “It was never a crutch for me. It was like, ‘That was awesome, and now I’m not doing it again.'”
In Greeley, then-UNC wrestling coach said the Bears got a “hidden gem” in Gaethje because he was under-recruited out of high school. The wrestling coaches soon realized that MMA fights were a powerful academic motivator for Gaethje.
He wasn’t training for MMA during his college days, but he did select amateur fights in the summertime, many of which were in Colorado and Arizona. Then-UFC heavyweight Shane Carwin lived in Greeley at the time, and Gaethje would jump in Carwin’s truck to drive down to the Denver area to get a front-row seat to Carwin’s training. That’s when Gaethje first met Wittman.
Gaethje, who was inducted into the UNC Hall of Fame in 2020, was a three-time NCAA Tournament qualifier and in 2010 became since the program rejoined Division I.
“He’s the most coachable athlete that I’ve ever worked with, but he did not like to go to class,” said Cherrington, who has been Gaethje’s longtime wrestling coach in the UFC. “So I made a deal with him that if he stayed eligible and kept up with his classwork, then I’d let him take some fights in the summer. He kept up his end, and those early fights were a springboard to the crazy success he had after turning pro.”
A smarter sort of chaos
Gaethje started his pre-UFC pro career 17-0, dominating smaller circuits and winning the belt in the World Series of Fighting before earning his UFC debut in 2017 . He won that bout via a second-round TKO on the main card of “The Ultimate Fighter 25” finale, but his car-crash fighting style — ironically defined by powerful striking and very little wrestling — would have to be adjusted.
He lost his next two fights by TKO, first to Eddie Alvarez in 2017 and then to Dustin Poirier in ’18. His chaotic style had him in position to win both bouts, but Gaethje was taking too much damage. And he knew a third straight defeat could put him in danger of getting cut from the UFC.
“Justin realized these guys are at another level, and they’re able to withstand these firefights that he was used to winning,” Cherrington said. “They’re much more skilled. And if he wanted to be beating these guys, he was going to have to dial things in.
“He was going to have to become more controlled, more strategic and maybe even have a game plan. I don’t think a game plan was much of a thing before that.”
The revised approach — being more of a spot fighter instead of trying to drown his opponent with relentless physicality — was underscored by a new, loftier goal, according to Wittman.
“At the beginning of his career, his goals were to be the most violent guy out there, the most remembered, the guy that every time someone bought a ticket, they remembered Justin Gaethje selling that show,” Wittman said on the Joe Rogan Podcast. “Then it turned into, ‘I want to have this belt.'”
As Gaethje found his footing in the UFC, he also battled periods of complacency and a couple of devastating losses for the undisputed belt. Twice, he captured the interim lightweight title. And twice, he fell short of unifying the belt, first in a loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2020 and then in a loss to Charles Oliveira in ’22. Both defeats came via submission.
The loss to Oliveira was particularly crushing, as it came in the main event of UFC 274 in his home state. Gaethje admits he was far too emotional going into the fight and ended up getting caught in
“I made that moment (of the fight) so much bigger than it actually was,” Gaethje said.
But the consistency of the men in Gaethje’s corner kept his star rising, even as he suffered setbacks.
Beyond Wittman and Cherrington, Gaethje’s coaching quartet is rounded out by , a former UFC fighter who often goes live against Gaethje during training, as well as jiu-jitsu/grappling coach Jorge Santiago.
Those four coaches have been the driving forces behind Gaethje’s success as he’s stayed ranked in the top five of the lightweight division for the last decade. They’re not all in the gym with Gaethje at the same time, aside from select days in a camp leading up to a fight, but each coach has a specific role that’s helped make Gaethje one of the most well-rounded fighters in the UFC.
“We have an amazing team and amazing chemistry,” Cherrington said. “Why it works so well is all of us know our roles and none of us have egos. There’s a lot of coaches that want the glory, that want the credit, and that’s just not our team.”
And as Gaethje has leaned into his coaches to learn how to make his chaotic approach more intelligent, he’s also mastered the art of getting punched in the face. As happened in the Topuria fight, Gaethje learned how to limit the damage to his face through an approach he says is “being like water,” ensuring very few of his opponent’s fists land with full effect.
“I’m not getting hit as much as it seems,” Gaethje said. “I definitely get hit (full-on) sometimes, but my ability to see punches and roll with punches is why very seldom do I get hit with 100% of their intended shot. Usually I’m slipping the punch so I’m only eating like 30% of the shot before it gets to their destination.”
Game plan for the title fight
Gaethje has also conquered the art of performing as an underdog.
He’s been an underdog in 12 of his 16 UFC fights and is 9-3 in those bouts. Along the way, he’s earned 17 bonuses across those 16 fights, an indication that even when he’s lost, he’s been a phenomenal draw for the promotion.
Gaethje entered the White House fight as a massive underdog, with his longshot odds averaging about 6-1. Topuria thought the matchup was as one-sided as the sportsbooks did.
Topuria predicted a first-round knockout of Gaethje, even going so far as to say he would finish the Coloradan And as Topuria did before his knockout win over Charles Oliveira to defend his belt in 2025, Topuria had a celebratory dinner the night before the White House fight. He also changed the record in his Twitter bio in advance of the fight to 18-0.
Instead, Topuria dropped to 17-1 as Gaethje battered him in the opening round. Then, Gaethje survived a handful of fierce body blows and two submission attempts in the second round before Gaethje stepped on the gas in the third and fourth rounds. The fight was nearly stopped after the third round after Topuria said he couldn’t see out of his eye, then was officially called after the fourth round, with Topuria’s face bloodied and nearly unrecognizable.
Topuria was taken to the hospital immediately after the fight, according to White, and . Gaethje said he knew he was going to win the fight after Topuria emptied his tank trying to finish Gaethje in the second round.
“Him hurting my body was one of the main reasons I won,” Gaethje said on the Joe Rogan Podcast. “… He had landed some really clean shots (in the second period). He could probably sense I was in trouble and hurt, and I think that fact made him dump everything. Because it was his last chance to take me out (as he predicted).”
Wittman added that it was clear Topuria, who came into the night on a scorching three-fight knockout streak, was not prepared to fight all five rounds.
“He knew he had to unleash everything right there (in the second) — if he would’ve been smart and knew they were going five rounds, he would’ve taken the approach of, ‘Let me step back a little bit, let me do some damage (here and there),'” Wittman said on the Joe Rogan Podcast.
Gaethje’s strategy in the fight was to consistently move left to counter Topuria’s pointed stance and make the Georgian-Spaniard constantly reset his approach. Gaethje also wanted to stay in the center of the cage to minimize Topuria’s striking effectiveness at close distance. And a third key was for Gaethje to throw jabs and get Topuria’s weight on his back foot, so Gaethje could find an opening with hooks over Topuria’s front shoulder.
“I was moving left the entire time,” Gaethje said on the Joe Rogan Podcast. “I constantly kept readjusting him. It was so subtle, but that’s what fighting is — subtle movements.”
The win marked Gaethje’s third straight victory following a loss to Max Holloway, when Holloway of a match where Gaethje said he was “not mentally prepared.” It was the first time Gaethje’s ever been knocked out in a bout.
But he followed up that disappointment with unanimous decisions over Rafael Fiziev and Paddy Pimblett, the latter being for the interim title, to set up the showdown with Topuria. Next for Gaethje, 37, is a major decision: either retire or defend his title. Gaethje sounds torn.
“I’ll definitely have those conversations with my parents, with my coaches, and with everybody that I care about and weigh all my options,” Gaethje said. “I would say I haven’t made a decision. But I mean, I’m planning on fighting again, for sure. Right now that’s what I feel in my body.”
Regardless of what’s next, back in Safford, Carolina Gaethje sees a quieter, more relaxing lifestyle for her son sometime in the not-too-distant future: One filled with golf (Justin is an 8.4 handicap), MMA coaching, a foundation that’s in the works to help at-risk kids and kids with mental illnesses, and, if Mom gets her way, grandkids.
“His time will come for all that,” Carolina Gaethje said. “We’re going to support him either way (on his retirement decision), but we want him to do what he feels within his heart.”
And if Gaethje moves onto that next chapter and never returns to the octagon — or even if he fights again and loses — “The Highlight” will always be remembered as a self-described “petty” competitor who epitomizes the fearless ferocity that the UFC has built its brand on since the promotion’s first card on November 12, 1993, at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.
“When you look back, I think my career’s going to age like fine wine,” Gaethje said on the Joe Rogan Podcast. “Being the underdog (the majority of the time), being Top 5 since 2017. These things are unmatched… those are the things I’m the most proud of.”
