America’s Justin Gaethje has branded Ilia Topuria an “annoying little bastard” and a “gimmick” – while also saying he understands why the UFC lightweight king’s wife famously left him last year.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia from his US training camp, Gaethje has also revealed how he and coach Trevor Wittman are preparing to deal with fighting on The White House lawn in summer, and with potential obstacles including rain, heat, humidity, even gnats.
Despite long being branded the most violent man in the world’s most violent sport, 37-year-old Gathje is currently a $5.50 TAB outsider for his UFC Freedom 250 headliner against Topuria on June 15.
UFC FREEDOM 250 | MONDAY 15 JUNE 10AM AEST | UFC Freedom 250 delivers a landmark night of fights from the White House, with Topuria vs Gaethje leading a stacked card celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.
UFC Freedom 250: Topuria v Gaethje | 03:03
The undefeated Spanish megastar, meanwhile, is $1.15.
Apart from being on a tear of 17 straight wins, including all nine inside the Octagon, Topuria also boasts an almost 90 per cent finish rate – and delights in taking it verbally to his rivals.
In fact, only last month the fighter dubbed ‘El Matador’ opted to bait Gaethje during no less than a meeting with President Donald Trump inside The Oval Office, asking the world leader: “Why did you want to give the toughest test to a friend of yours?”
Then in recent days, Topuria has also released a video of himself placing a special white rose at the base of a Gaethje mural — which itself sits next to murals of previous victims Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway, even Australia’s own Alexander Volkanovski, each of which has a red rose before it.
Asked this week about the rose gimmick, and Gaethje declared himself unimpressed.
“All that guy is, is a gimmick,” he said of Topuria. “He calls himself the king. He thinks he’s a God. What an annoying little bastard. I couldn’t imagine being in a room with him for 30 minutes listening to him talk about himself …”
Then, after a short pause, Gaejthe fired off a shot of his own.
“And I can say this: I would leave him,” he grinned. “That’s all I’m saying. I would leave him.
“No way I would put up with his s***.”
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Back in January, Topuria finally settled a long, and incredibly contentious, divorce and custody battle with former wife Giorgina Uzcategui. The announcement ended months of drama for the UFC champ, who has not fought since finishing Oliveira in June last year.
Due to issues around his personal life, Topuria was ruled out of a January title fight, at which time Gaethje stepped up and beat Irishman Paddy Pimblett for the interim strap.
And while Gaethje is undeniably aware of the dangers presented by his rival, the American also suggested it was perilous for any athlete to be “full of himself” – and pointed to his own most recent victim, Pimblett, as proof.
Asked if he and Topuria were effectively polar opposites when it came to personalities, Gaethje replied: “Yeah, look, I was young and dumb once, too.
“And up until this point, it’s served him well.
“People see the way he talks and they believe it. Because he believes it. Which is amazing really.
“But it was similar with Paddy Pimblett. He was so full of himself.
“And it can be so detrimental to approach life that way. Thinking you’re better than everybody else.
“Because nobody is better than anyone. We’re all children of God.,
“You’re a product of your circumstances at the end of the day. I’ve been so blessed with the parents I have, the family I have, and the opportunities I’ve been granted.
“And I thank God every single day for those opportunities. And I promise daily that I will never change. No matter the success, no matter the failure.
“I’ve promised countless times to my Lord and Saviour that I will never disappoint him. Or that I won’t ever think I’m better than anything or anybody.
“That’s how I got here.
“That’s how I’ve resonated with people. For me, that’s the way I have to live.”
Elsewhere, Gaethje also responded to concerns about fighting outside at The White House in June.
Speaking on his popular podcast recently, Joe Rogan branded the decision to fight outdoors in Washington DC “odd” and suggested he doesn’t “like the idea of fighting outside at all.”
The longtime UFC analyst went on to warn that the weather could be too hot, fighters could become dehydrated, and even asked “how are they going to f***ing do anything about the bugs?”.
Yet Gaethje revealed that he and his team have revamped training to prepare for anything.
“A lot of my workouts have been designed around fighting outside,” he said in his only Australian interview. “Today, for example, I had 10 minutes of jump rope, then did 15 minutes of sauna – got my body heat real high – before I went and did my seven rounds of hard work.
“That way I’m starting workouts with a high body temperature.
“We’re expecting humidity, but who knows? There is a cold front coming next week but that could also bring rain, so maybe the humidity [come fight night] is higher. I have no idea what to expect …”
And as for the bug issue that has also been raised by UFC boss Dana White?
“When I’m fighting I don’t even notice all the people inside the arena,” he explained. “I’m so cerebral that time isn’t even really a factor, either.
“So if time isn’t a factor, bugs won’t be.
“And no matter what the variables are in there, he’ll have to face the same things that I do.”
When it comes to family, Gaethje revealed he has secured eight tickets for The White House event, ensuring all his immediate family can attend.
“I’ve got eight tickets: so it’s my parents, my three siblings and their partners,” he said.
“Initially, I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out. It was a day-by-day thing.
“Then two weeks ago I was told I could have my eight immediate family there.”
Although, not initially.
“First off, they gave me two,” the fighter grinned. “And I said ‘OK, thanks, but I’d really love for my siblings to be there’.
“So then they said ‘let’s try to figure this out’ and got me five tickets.
“So then I said ‘that’s cool, but my siblings are also all married’ … [laughs] so luckily the UFC have gone above and beyond to make it happen.”
Elsewhere, Wittman also explained the training change ups on Gaethje’s YouTube channel.
“How I build the rounds is we do a lot of stations,” the coach started. “We’re also involving the sauna in between the workouts now to deal with the heat because we’re gonna be fighting outdoors and out there in Washington D.C. it’s super humid.
“I’ve been out there a lot and in the summers it gets really hot. Main card goes on at 8 o’clock so thank God it’ll be a touch cooler but it we’re gonna be dealing with bugs so we’re preparing for the unexpected.
“We’ve added sauna, we started off with putting him in the sauna prior to his workouts now we’re getting his heart rate up before he goes into the sauna… and when he gets out he’s dealing with these hard workouts with a feeling of heatstroke.”