Mr Excitement: Justin Gaethje

Mr Excitement: Justin Gaethje

By Andrew Frattaroli

In just a handful of UFC fights, the hard hitting, UFC Lincoln headliner, Justin Gaethje, has become an instant fan favorite due to his ferocious flurries of jaw cracking punches, and leg kicks that make the sound of a baseball bat hitting a steel pipe. When this guy fights, everyone knows to tune in because, win or lose, he sure as hell brings the violence.

Do you really need more convincing to watch his fight on Saturday? Out of his 18 professional wins, 15 have come by KO/TKO, two have been by submission and only one has been by decision. The UFC is just the latest stop on this 29-year-old MMA veteran’s professional journey, so let’s see what got him to where he is today.

Gaethje was a two-time high school state champion wrestler in Arizona before wrestling at the collegiate level for the University of Northern Colorado. In the 2010 NCAA Division I championship tournament, Gaethje placed in the top 10 of the 157 pound division, and did enough to be honored as an All-American. After seeing that wrestling wasn’t going to be a viable career path, he set his eyes on mixed martial arts. He started fighting as an amateur whilst also continuing his collegiate wrestling career. After winning all seven of his amateur fights, the now college graduate decided to make the jump to the professional stage.

He was signed by the World Series of Fighting and he made his debut at WSOF 2, where he won via Dr stoppage against Gesias Cavalcante. He stayed busy and fought at the next big WSOF event, WSOF 3, where he faced off against Brian Cobb. As if winning by Dr stoppage wasn’t impressive enough, Gaethje upped the ante by picking apart Cobb’s legs to the point where Cobb went down in pain and the referee stopped the fight. Clearly he had proved that he had a ton of potential and WSOF fed him higher level fights; including a lightweight title fight against Richard Patishnock, which he won easily. Other big names that Gaethje defended his title against are the one-handed legend, Nick Newell, and UFC veteran Melvin Guillard. After several more title defenses, Gaethje evacuated the title to sign with the UFC.

In classic Gaethje style, his debut against fellow striker Michael Johnson was the epitome of violence. Gaethje won the fight by TKO in the second round, but the back and forth exchange of grenade like punches landed the fight the honor of Sherdog fight of the year.

Not bad for a debut, huh? Since then Gaethje has lost his last two fights in a row against Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier, respectively. While he lost those fights, he never gave up until the ref stopped the fight, showing the heart of a warrior. Perhaps even too much heart.

Fans have since worried about his health after his many ferocious battles in the octagon and have called on him to utilize his wrestling and leg kicks more, rather than bite down on his mouth piece and swing for the fences like Giancarlo Stanton, taking brain rattling shots in the process.

Gaethje looks to get back in the win column against James Vick this weekend at UFC Lincoln, live and free on FS1.