Justin looked horrible last night

[EliteKeyboardStriker]

I'm glad he won but man, Justin looked like he had a late night binger the previous night, woke up late with a hangover and rolled into the octagon to fight Paddy. His body looked soft, he was sloppy as hell, gave 2 eye pokes, and looked like he was running low on gas mid fight. That was not the Justin I am used to seeing.

Was there something wrong with him? Was it just because he had no respect for Paddy's striking? Or, was it his strategy to just turn the fight into a dirty brawl like he did? I don't know what it was, but I'm hoping he goes back to his normal self for his next fight vs Ilia, Arman, or Charles/Max winner. I think any of those 4 would handily beat the Justin that showed up last night.

 

[helltoupee]

He's almost 40, has a shit ton of accumulated damage, and had a staph infection.

Technical Justin is more of an outlier than the rule.

 

[EliteKeyboardStriker]

He's almost 40, has a shit ton of accumulated damage, and had a staph infection.

Technical Justin is more of an outlier than the rule.

Yea the staph infection might’ve had an effect. If it’s age and damage than he seems to have deteriorated pretty quickly. But that’s how it goes sometimes I guess. I hope it was just an off night for him or that he didn’t train as hard because he didn’t take Paddy seriously, something like that.

 

[HNIC215]

 

[helltoupee]

Yea the staph infection might’ve had an effect. If it’s age and damage than he seems to have deteriorated pretty quickly. But that’s how it goes sometimes I guess. I hope it was just an off night for him or that he didn’t train as hard because he didn’t take Paddy seriously, something like that.

Lighter divisions are predicated on speed and fast twitch reflexes, as those are the first to go once you are out of your 20s.

Power, however is usually retained much longer. This is why lighter weight divisions don't really have dominant old guys, and why heavyweights are full of old guys.

Justin still has some power and that's what's been carrying him near the end of his career. That and what's left of his iron chin.

 

[legedema]

very glad Justin won but imo he needs to retire with the interim belt.
it would be a disaster for him against Ilia with this performance.

 

[pamirec]

It looked like a retirement fight. Both showed heart, no doubt, but it is what it is.
Skill wise Paddy didn’t even look top 15. Ilia would’ve slept both in the first round.

 

[Dorkman]

He did have a giant neck wound a week or two ago. He might have fought that fight on antibiotics.

 

[taugrim]

Simplest explanation is staph.

That was the 1st time Justin looked like he had a gut. It's probably related to conditioning, which is probably related to staph.

 

[Thy]

Was real bad, paddy looked out on his feet multiple times too. Fight was just bad overall for me.

 

[Fire Belly]

As exciting as the fight was, it proved that Ilia will kill both those guys.

 

[whocares]

Gaethje is a G. He's one of the BMFs in UFC history regardless of that dumb belt or UFC 300 lol. staph or otherwise he's old now and he looked it. He's going the way they all go. Testament to what a warrior he is actually that he can batter the shit out of a man while not really being close to 100%.

 

[TJH Exitium]

JG peaked years ago somewhere in the Ferguson-Fiziev 1 timeframe or possibly sooner

You'll never see him faster or better conditioned than we've seen him in the past.

He's Intirim champion now so should fight Ilia this summer, and win or lose I'd like to see him retire then, rather than keep fighting into CTE

 

[hbombbisping]

Sherdog told me that Paddy would take Justin down and easily submit him because Justins grappling "sucks". Fake news because Khabib ran through Justin in his prime so people try to downplay him.



Reality of the fight is that Justin won every grappling exchange, battered Paddy on the ground, and hit him with about 25 bombs that would have knocked out almost anyone else, at 38, with staph.

 

[Dmac07]

Been a big Justin fan for years, and am happy he won.

That said, it's ridiculous this was a 'title' fight. It was closer to a fight to prove who is the 5th best in the division than the best.

Justin is a chance against most, but he would be underdog against Illia, Max, Arman, huge underdog if Islam dropped back down, 50/50 against Oliveira and underdog against Volk if he moved up again.

 

[Egészségére!]

Was it just because he had no respect for Paddy's striking?

It was because he had no respect for Paddy period

Justin was pissed he didn’t get a (real) title shot & that he had to fight what he thought was a hype job who didn’t deserve to be there

So he figured he’d go out there & just wail on this clown but it didn’t exactly work out like he’d planned in that he couldn’t finish Paddy & the scouser even gained a few fans in the process. Still won sure but I doubt Justin thought that fight would last more than a round or two.

I’d guess he’ll go back to fighting smarter vs Ilia, Arman or Charles/Max winner

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Paddy’s got the Churchill chin, lads

 

[ExitLUPin]

Been a big Justin fan for years, and am happy he won.

That said, it's ridiculous this was a 'title' fight. It was closer to a fight to prove who is the 5th best in the division than the best.

Justin is a chance against most, but he would be underdog against Illia, Max, Arman, huge underdog if Islam dropped back down, 50/50 against Oliveira and underdog against Volk if he moved up again.

Max and Charles are fighting for the "BMF" title and that has far more legitimacy in determining the #1 contender (should be Arman) than this interim title does.

 

[Ashslog]

He's old. he was the last Khabib fight, remember?

 

[Thepaintbucket]

He fought Khabib 5 years ago. Since that fight he's been submitted once more, knocked out by Max and been in a couple of wars and on top of that, he isn't the most active fighter to begin with.