Morning Report | Justin Gaethje ready to rebound from brutal UFC 300 knockout loss: ‘I’m excited to be scared again’

Justin Gaethje felt something after his fight with Max Holloway that he hadn’t felt in ages: fear.

That’s not to say Gaethje was afraid of Holloway himself, the opponent that squared off with him for nearly 25 minutes in a “BMF” title fight at UFC 300 in April 2024. But after Holloway scored arguably one of the greatest knockouts in MMA history at Gaethje’s expense with one second remaining in the fight, “The Highlight” was forced to reflect on the dangers of MMA.

Gaethje has often been the hammer and the nail throughout his thrilling 14-year career and he has eight UFC Fight of the Night bonuses to back up that reputation. Next Saturday, he fights for the first time since UFC 300 when he takes on Rafael Fiziev (stepping in as a replacement for an injured Dan Hooker) in a rematch of their UFC 286 encounter that Gaethje won by decision.

He’s thrilled about the matchup, in no small part because Holloway reminded him of his in-cage mortality.

“I’ve had 20 knockouts out of my 25 wins,” Gaethje said on The Jim Rome Show. “It comes with the territory and we have seen different people go different ways. We saw Alex Pereira getting knocked out cold like I did, come back and he’s been on a tear.

“I’m excited. I’m excited to be scared again. I think that’s something that kind of goes away as you get older and wiser. You think you know everything and you kind of forget the most important thing that this is so dangerous and whenever the danger is not real, I think your body doesn’t do what it needs to do in these situations, and being that this is going to be a very scary fight I know that I’m going to go to a very primal place and all the adrenaline is going to be rushing through my veins and I’m excited about that. That’s a special feeling.”

Gaethje has never lost by decision in his career, with three losses by KO/KTO and two by submission among his setbacks.

One of those submission losses came at the hands of Charles Oliveira at UFC 274 in May 2022. Gaethje was competing for a vacant lightweight title (Oliveira missed weight for the contest, was stripped of his championship, and was ineligible to regain it) and the stakes of the contest played on his nerves.

“I think Charles Oliveira,” Gaethje said when asked about the last time he was scared. “Not scared of him, I think I was scared of the opportunity. Such a big fight for the belt, I really wanted to be successful, and you really sometimes put too much pressure on yourself. Part of the reason I do this is to inspire people and I really want people to understand that I’m not special. I just love what I do.

“I’ve worked so hard, I’ve committed my life to this and this is just a testament to either getting back on the horse or giving up and in my blood and in my mind, that’s never been an option. So I’m excited to go in there, show people that it doesn’t take someone special, it just takes self-belief and hard work.”

Gaethje has never been the most active fighter, having not competed more than twice in a calendar year since 2014. Given his high-octane, high-impact style, that’s probably one reason why he’s managed to stay in the game for so long.

The way Gaethje sees it, it’s not just about the physical toll, but the mental toll that’s required to step into the octagon that prevents him from booking more fights.

“I’ve been such a fan of this sport because of the variables that anything at any time and I’ve embraced that part of the sport,” Gaethje said. “I focus on the things I can control, which there’s not a lot, and then I really just buy into the fact that I’m playing a crazy game and I’m a crazy person.

“The good thing is I only have to be crazy once or twice a year, and I could just be a golfer the rest, but, this is something that’s special to me. I’ve worked my whole life, committed my whole life to this, and I’m not going to take my foot off the pedal now.”

Several other lightweight contenders publicly stepped up to challenge Gaethje, including Mateusz Gamrot and Renato Moicano, but it’s Fiziev who got the call and a chance to avenge a loss.

While it seems there’s little for Gaethje to gain from beating Fiziev again, he’s confident that if he continues his entertaining ways, he’ll stay in prime position for a shot at lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

“It really doesn’t matter who it is,” Gaethje said. “Timing is everything in this sport. We saw with Dustin Poirier, I beat him and then he fought for the belt right after that, and I think the timing is going to line up well. I go in there and get a finish with an outstanding performance like I always do, I think I’ll be one of the guys that they consider to fight Makachev.”

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Being scared of fighting seems like a perfectly normal thing. I’m scared of horses. What are you guys scared of?

Let me know in the comments below.

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