When U.S. President Donald Trump first teased the idea of a UFC event at the White House last year, people thought it was crazy talk. And yet, UFC CEO and President Dana White, a longtime friend of the president’s, jumped on the opportunity. White’s been the guy to take on ambitious projects and challenges, so this was nothing unusual to him.
And just about everything seemed to pay off for White and the UFC. UFC Freedom 250 ended up being one for the history books – not just in that it was a UFC card held in the nation’s capital, on perhaps the ultimate monument of democracy, but the amount of highlight finishes it delivered. For the first time in 33 years, in 777 UFC events, all fights ended via KO/TKO.
And while the card contained a number of star athletes and an additional interim title fight, perhaps no one can be considered the MVP of this card more than Justin Gaethje. Gaethje, in his third and likely final shot at becoming undisputed lightweight champion, facing potential retirement if he lost, pulled off the feat.
He did so under incredible odds, too. Gaethje was taking on Ilia Topuria, the undefeated defending lightweight champion. Topuria, also a former featherweight champion, was coming off quite the rise that led him to the distinction of being in the debates for the current pound-for-pound best fighter in the UFC. He knocked out Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title, knocked out Max Holloway (which no one had done before), and knocked out Charles Oliviera to claim the lightweight title.
The odds reflected Topuria’s hype and ever-growing star power. Gaethje entered the fight as a 6-to-1 underdog across the sportsbooks. But Americans love a good underdog story, and Gaethje – a UFC fighter with red, white, and blue running through his veins – took on the challenge.
It was the ultimate gamble for this card from Dana White.
And it paid off ridiculously.
Though Topuria has a solid ground game and Gaethje has an All-American wrestling background, the two were expected to trade plenty of fists in this bout. Topuria’s known for his KO power, and Gaethje has always abandoned his wrestling for standing-and-trading slugfests in his UFC tenure. And that’s exactly what we got from the beginning.
Both men got their fair deal of shots in on the other early. Topuria landed some solid right hands, but Gaethje worked behind his jab, landing consistently and busting Topuria open in the first. Topuria then turned up the heat late in the round, resulting in the round’s last minute being one where both men showed their firepower.
The two went back-and-forth throughout the second round, where Topuria found a weakness in body shots that did damage on Gaethje. Topuria went to town on the body, eventually dropping Gaethje with what appeared to be a liver shot. Topuria got right on top looking for the submission – a straight armbar attempt, then a triangle armbar attempt. Topuria landed plenty of ground-and-pound…but Gaethje didn’t back down. He got back up.
Gaethje was hurting, but Topuria looked drained at the start of the third. Gaethje noticed and capitalized, getting back into his strikes and back into the fight. Gaethje managed to drop Topuria face first, but he elected to go for a choke, and Topuria was able to get back to his feet and out of the submission.
Nevertheless, Gaethje’s work did wonders, busting Topuria’s face in a bad way. While it looked like the doctor would step in, referee Marc Goddard gave the go-ahead for the fight to start the fourth – a moment that made it that much sweeter for “The Highlight.”
Topuria got a takedown and got back into mount in the fourth, but outside of that, Gaethje continued to pick apart Topuria’s face, particularly a heavily damaged eye.
And before the fifth round could start, Ilia Topuria had his Roberto Duran “No Mas” moment. The corner withdrew the defending champ with him on the stool, and Justin Gaethje made UFC history in the ultimate way.
Justin Gaethje had all the hype in the world around him when he jumped from the WSOF to the UFC in early 2017. Less than 10 years later, his career culminates on the ultimate stage – not just of the UFC, but of America – fireworks going off as he hoists his championship belts.
It’s a script Hollywood couldn’t write. It’s the perfect All-American MMA story.
