For nearly 12 minutes on Wednesday, Justin Gaethje answered questions in a low monotone. He praised Rafael Fiziev, his opponent Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 286 at The O2 Arena in London, England, as one of the sport's elite strikers. Gaethje referred to himself as the most exciting fighter in UFC history and said he's worked hard to learn to deal with the pressure that comes with being high up on a hotly anticipated pay-per-view card.
Everything he said was to the point and made a lot of sense.
"I think it's the natural progression of this sport," Gaethje said of fighting someone ranked below him who's on the biggest stage for the first time."I'm coming off of a loss and I've fought for the title in two of my last three fights. Number 6 isn't that far down, so I think at this point that I've got to get a win and it doesn't matter who it is [against].
That's good work considering the opposition he's faced, but for a guy in a stacked division who is aspiring to fight for the championship again, it's not enough. He needs to string together some wins to force the hands of the UFC brass of Dana White, Hunter Campbell, Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby, who make the bouts.
To Gaethje, the fight may be a test of wills. And while he showed little emotion while talking about this fight and his career, he made two points that no one could disagree with. In his 10 UFC bouts, he's won Fight of the Night six times and earned four Performance of the Night bonuses. He's also probably won an unofficial mark of making the most MMA fans shriek,"Oh, my God!" during his fights.
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