‘I Don’t Know Why, I Can’t Turn It Off’

Former interim UFC lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje has claimed he is the most exciting fighter to ever grace the Octagon and the entire sport of mixed martial arts as a whole – ahead of his pivotal UFC 286 co-main event return later this week against Rafael Fiziev.

Gaethje, the current #3 ranked lightweight contender, is slated to make his first Octagon walk since May of last year this weekend in London, taking on surging striking ace, Fiziev in a potential title-eliminator at 155lbs.

Last time out, Gaethje, a staple of Trevor Wittman and ONX Labs, suffered a first round rear-naked choke submission loss to former undisputed champion, Charles Oliveira in an unsuccessful bid to land division spoils.

Justin Gaethje touts himself as the most exciting fighter in UFC history

However, attempting to carve a path back to a third undisputed lightweight title outing, Gaethje claims that both he and fans know he is the most exciting fighting force to ever grace the sport.

“I don’t just believe it, you believe it,” Justin Gaethje told assembled media ahead of UFC 286. “You all believe it. You know it to be true. It’s not on purpose. It’s just who I am. That’s how I compete. I’m cut from this cloth.”

“It’s not on purpose,” Justin Gaethje explained. “It’s just who I am. It’s who I’ve been in wrestling. Wrestling can be boring. My wresting matches were never boring. It’s just the way it is. I don’t know why. I can’t turn it off.” 

Credited for all-out wars with the likes of Michael Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, and Dustin Poirier during his tenure with the Dana White-led organization, Gaethje, who won interim gold against Tony Ferguson in 2020, claimed he did not remember many of his thrilling Octagon outings.

“It’s moving so far, I definitely cannot remember a thought,” Justin Gaethje explained. “Your ability to retain information in there is non-existent. It’s moving so fast, and if you take time to retain information, your peripherals, your intuition just goes out the windoer for one or two seconds, and we’re fighting less than one or two seconds, less than inches, so there’s no time for any of that.”