Justin Gaethje is excited to find out which Max Holloway will meet him on Saturday night.
The BMF champion will take on the formidable Holloway in a 155lbs clash in the middle of the main card of the enthralling UFC 300 card, which takes place this Saturday, April 13, at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.
The 35-year-old makes the walk to The Octagon for the 13th time this weekend as he prepares to make the first defence of his belt.
Speaking to the media, Gaethje reflected on the path that has brought him to this point. He said:
“They all feel special. It's such a great little adventure that I put myself on, you know, a long time ago when I chose to, you know, take this path. I never would have thought it would lead me to UFC 300. But here we are.”
The power that Gaethje possesses in his strikes is something to behold. Many have questioned, heading into the bout, if the size difference between the two will be too much for Holloway but for ‘The Highlight’, he is just excited to find out what version of Holloway he will meet on Saturday night.
“It is a lot of ‘what ifs’ and ‘what I thinks’, I don't know. I don't know. You know, I love getting in there and finding out. You know, I'll know early if he's punching hard enough for me to take chances or be more cautious. You know, I'll find that out early. And I think that's very different than the time he fought Poirier as that was a late replacement.
“I think he's had this whole camp, you know, being able to keep and maintain that weight and I do think he's going to be as big as me and as strong as me.”
In his 32 fights ‘Blessed’ has never been stopped by way of strikes, with many considering his chin to be one of the best, pound for pound, in the promotion. With all but 6 of his wins coming by way of KO/TKO finish, Gaethje could be just the man to test the chin. ‘The Highlight’ has made no secret of the fact that he would like to become the first to stop Holloway with strikes, revealing to the media why it would mean so much.
“It would mean, a lot. I have 25 wins, 19 knockouts. I've really taken pride in that. You know, since the beginning of my career and, you know, to be the first one, I like being first. So, yeah, I'm ready.”
The aforementioned Poirier bout was the only time in his UFC tenure the Hawaiian has ventured up to the Lightweight division and although he has watched it back, he doesn’t a huge amount of how Holloway looked that night.
“If I’m watching that fight. It has nothing to do with the size or anything like that. It's all about technique, you know, and I can find his technique in in all of his fights, all of them, you know, he's a very different fighter from fight to fight, just as all of us are.”
“You know, we're all constantly making adjustments. And, you know, I won't be sure which Max, I'm going to fight until that bell rings.”
Both men are knowing for putting it all on the line in every bout they have and when asked about his plans moving forward, Gaethje gave a chilling but very real response to his outlook on fighting.
“I’m a quarter mile at a time kind of guy. I do not look too far ahead. I honestly have no clue what the future holds. I don't using plan on being alive the day after my fight, so hopefully I'm there on Sunday.”
Watch his full media day interview, below:
