Justin Gaethje / Lightweight

BigDaddyChristopher

BigDaddyChristopher

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I just wanna give this guy mad props.. I've just been surging around youtube watching fights as I always do to pass the time.

This guy has been in some wars, like he is the body of what the Lightweight division really is.. Its a damn battle ground.

Justin Gaethje, Al quinta, Kevin Lee, Dustin Poirier, Eddie Alverez, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson. If this weight division isn't stacked and the best damn weight division in the game right now. I don't know what is.

Ima leave you with this..

I left off Conor cause who knows if he's coming back and Barboza. I think Barboza is just going to be a gate keeper now really. He's got alot of improving to do with wrestling and I don't know if he has the time to do it.
 
Omitting his name needs no explanation at this point.

Justin is awesome and he has the perfect style to neutralize Khabib imo

Too bad the losses have redirected their paths.
 
Yes, we all like Gaethje. What is your point?
 
magicmarker said:
Omitting his name needs no explanation at this point.

Justin is awesome and he has the perfect style to neutralize Khabib imo

Too bad the losses have redirected their paths.
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Gaethje's clinch game is too weak imo and he's been taken down by everyone he's fought in the UFC. He has good scrambles but I doubt that he'll be able to stop Khabib. Especially since he tends to fade at the end of the second.

Khabib isn't gonna stand and bang with him. I don't think Justin has the IQ to counter Khabib's usual strategy. I'd love to see them fight tho.
 
Gaethje is an honorary Minister of the Church of the Just Bleed Gods...
 
GreatSaintGuillotine said:
Gaethje's clinch game is too weak imo and he's been taken down by everyone he's fought in the UFC. He has good scrambles but I doubt that he'll be able to stop Khabib. Especially since he tends to fade at the end of the second.

Khabib isn't gonna stand and bang with him. I don't think Justin has the IQ to counter Khabib's usual strategy. I'd love to see them fight tho.
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While that may be true, nobody has made Justin fight their fight. Everyone has been forced to fight the kind of fight he wants to fight because his wrestling is good enough to keep it where he wants it, even if its not always in his best interest.

I disagree that he fades. If anything I think he has a great gas tank. He gassed mj out. Eddie said he would've lost if he didn't finish him. Poirier was getting exhausted as well but got a second wind during the stoppage for eye pokes.

Would be interesting to see Justin forced to fight a different way than what he's been able to force everyone to fight him up to this point. It's an interesting matchup but I favor Justin. I think he's fought tougher guys than Khabib has. He has a more impressive win over mj, while fighting mj's style which is kinda odd.
 
magicmarker said:
While that may be true, nobody has made Justin fight their fight. Everyone has been forced to fight the kind of fight he wants to fight because his wrestling is good enough to keep it where he wants it, even if its not always in his best interest.

I disagree that he fades. If anything I think he has a great gas tank. He gassed mj out. Eddie said he would've lost if he didn't finish him. Poirier was getting exhausted as well but got a second wind during the stoppage for eye pokes.

Would be interesting to see Justin forced to fight a different way than what he's been able to force everyone to fight him up to this point. It's an interesting matchup but I favor Justin. I think he's fought tougher guys than Khabib has. He has a more impressive win over mj, while fighting mj's style which is kinda odd.
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Justin definitely fades a bit in later rounds but a lot of that could be because of damage. He has a very taxing style if you fight his fight but he also drains himself heavily. Probably because he goes so heavy on all of his shots.

MJ has never had a particularly good tank imo. Eddie is always about to lose right before he gets a KO, that's just how his fights go. I was shocked that Dustin won that and managed to land a TD. I was positive that Dustin was gonna take a nap. I think him slowing down was mainly because his legs were dead from leg kicks.

I, personally, don't think that he's making them fight his fight. Eddie, Dustin, and MJ are all stand up fighters. None of them are pressure wrestlers. Striking is their preference above all else.

I doubt that Justin will do well against someone who active fights for the TD. He gives a lot of openings for them due to his hyper aggressive style and slow (but brutal) leg kicks. Eddie managed to snag Justin's leg and finish a TD relatively easily.

I won't count the man out. He's tough as nail but I don't think he's smart enough to adopt a new strategy to counter Khabib's vast TD game.
 
Viking Power said:
This is probably true though I hate to admit it. I’d love to see Justin take Khabib out.
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I'd just love to watch them fight. I can't think of anyone else who could actually force Justin to use his wrestling.
 
magicmarker said:
Omitting his name needs no explanation at this point.

Justin is awesome and he has the perfect style to neutralize Khabib imo
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We haven't seen him against a high-level grappler who actually uses his wrestling. So there's not enough evidence to support that. Justin was taken down by his last opponent, who doesn't have anywhere near the wrestling chops of Khabib.
 
Gaejthe s fight style will turn him into mediocre city in UFC ..... and he's already approaching label
 
On a related note, when Gaethje came to the UFC he was instantly given the top guys and ranked.

Yet, when ACB champs make the transition (i.e., Zabit, Antigulov) they're treated as novices and have to climb the ladder like any other novice. ACB champs should be given a crack at the top guys by their second fight and get ranked too IMO. ACB champs are legit.
 
magicmarker said:
I disagree that he fades. If anything I think he has a great gas tank. He gassed mj out. Eddie said he would've lost if he didn't finish him.
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To be fair to the Eddie fight, Alvarez had hit him diligently with some brutal body shots. That was an abnormal level of punishment to the fundaments even for a gaethje fight, no doubt aiding in him getting TKO'd.

Actually, on a purely stylistic level, I think Justin matches up better with McGregor than Khabib. In the second Diaz fight, when the bout hit the later rounds, Nate would just put on the earmuffs and wade into Conor's punches, then fire back. It worked pretty effectively actually, probably since it doesn't expose many of the usual openings McGregor looks for. As we all know, Justin is the master of that position (not saying he'd win, mind you).
 
Sakuraba7 said:
Yet, when ACB champs make the transition (i.e., Zabit, Antigulov) they're treated as novices and have to climb the ladder like any other novice. ACB champs should be given a crack at the top guys by their second fight and get ranked too IMO. ACB champs are legit.
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Yeah. It's probably due to how crazy entertaining Justin is -- coupled with the UFC and fans just not having eyes on the Russian market. Someone like Magomed Magomedov is probably better than anyone Justin ever fought before entering the UFC, but Yan didn't get a top 10 guy when he debuted.
 
europe1 said:
To be fair to the Eddie fight, Alvarez had hit him diligently with some brutal body shots. That was an abnormal level of punishment to the fundaments even for a gaethje fight, no doubt aiding in him getting TKO'd.

Actually, on a purely stylistic level, I think Justin matches up better with McGregor than Khabib. In the second Diaz fight, when the bout hit the later rounds, Nate would just put on the earmuffs and wade into Conor's punches, then fire back. It worked pretty effectively actually, probably since it doesn't expose many of the usual openings McGregor looks for. As we all know, Justin is the master of that position (not saying he'd win, mind you).
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As much as I hate to say it, Conor could bloody well piece Gajethe up from bell to bell.
 
Nice Highlights. Damage. War Body Shot Eddie.
 
My heart aches for Justin. 2 loses in a row, and he had both guys in DEEP shit. Both guys were on one leg and ripe for the picking, but shit happens...and those are the fights JG lives for.

hes said himself he would rather get knocked out and go out on his shield in a fight that will be remember, than win a lack luster decision. Honorable, I worry about his health though.
 
europe1 said:
Yeah. It's probably due to how crazy entertaining Justin is -- coupled with the UFC and fans just not having eyes on the Russian market. Someone like Magomed Magomedov is probably better than anyone Justin ever fought before entering the UFC, but Yan didn't get a top 10 guy when he debuted.
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I don't mind Yan not getting a top guy on the debut. They're still "untested" to the public eye. But they definitely deserve a Top 10 to 15 ranked guy in their second fight. If they end up losing the match, that's great, now you can send them down because they were just hype (Ironically, Gaethje's the one that fits this scenario). At some point UFC needs to acknowledge that making ACB champs start from the bottom of the ladder is completely unreasonable.


Mainstream MMA seems to revolve exclusively around US promotions so the foreign fighters who are good aren't acknowledged by the likes of Tapology/Sherdog because they don't have the "names" on their record. The ranking sites need to change, and they could do that by factoring in for fighters who have extensive amateur careers. Boxing usually factors that in by looking at medals and amateur accomplishments, and not just the Olympics which is the only thing that seems to get any hype in MMA. If they looked at wrestling, sambo, sanda, BJJ and Amateur-MMA accomplishments they could easily determine if someone deserves to be ranked highly even if they don't have well-known UFC / US names on their record.

It wouldn't shock me they're not paying attention to the Russian scene. There's over 66 Brazilian male fighters on the roster but only 23 Russians. Brazilians are great at BJJ, but Russians are great at wrestling, Sambo, judo, Sanda and boxing. They've hundreds of Olympics medals in wrestling and boxing. Brazil has 0 in wrestling, and 3 in boxing (their first Gold in 2016). Russian talent is grossly underrepresented in the UFC; I don't even want to mention Bellator, they practically have a blacklist on North-Caucasian fighters. That's like allowing American boxers but barring Blacks/Hispanics...how do you bar the dominant contingent? From what I gather UFC doesn't even sign Russian fighters. It's usually Ali Abdelaziz who signs them then brings them to the UFC or PFL, whichever of the two will take them. Meaning he only scouts gyms he's personally acquainted with. This has an ethnic dimension to it as well, as the signees end up being from Northern Dagestan, so fighters from Southern Dagestan, Circassia (entire western NC) and Chechnya have an even less chance of getting signed. A couple years ago, half the guys signed were friends/teammates of Khabib alone.
 
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GreatSaintGuillotine said:
I'd just love to watch them fight. I can't think of anyone else who could actually force Justin to use his wrestling.
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That’s better said and is how I’m thinking. Would love to see them fight and because I happen to like Justin more, I’d like to see him win.
 
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