{"id":38716,"date":"2026-06-09T16:57:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Former-UFC-champ-shares-strategy-for-Justin-Gaethje-to-upset-Ilia-Topuria-201482"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:57:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T16:57:37","slug":"former-ufc-champ-shares-strategy-for-justin-gaethje-to-upset-ilia-topuria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/former-ufc-champ-shares-strategy-for-justin-gaethje-to-upset-ilia-topuria\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UFC champ shares strategy for Justin Gaethje to upset Ilia Topuria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Justin
\nGaethje<\/a>\u2019s former opponent, Eddie
\nAlvarez<\/a>, recently shared insight on what makes him tick.<\/p>\n

Interim champion Gaethje (27-5) challenges Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> (17-0) for the lightweight title in the
\nUFC White House: Freedom 250<\/a> main event on June 14. Alvarez
\nadvised Gaethje to rely on his signature leg kicks. Alvarez also
\nbelieves Gaethje\u2019s best chance at knocking out Topuria is in
\nbetween exchanges. According to Alvarez, Topuria\u2019s eyesight is too
\nsharp for Gaethje to land flush while leading the attack.
\nMeanwhile, Alvarez also sees holes in Gaethje\u2019s defense. The former
\n
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> lightweight champion notes that
\nGaethje takes his eyes off his opponents, which is a recipe for
\ngetting knocked out. Alvarez also doesn\u2019t like Gaethje\u2019s defensive
\nstyle of shelling up instead of moving and cutting angles.:<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThe calf kicks is what he would have to do,\u201d Alvarez said on the
\nFull Send podcast. \u201cAnd then I would also want him to punch with
\nIlia. So when Ilia goes, he has to go — same time. I think
\n[Gaethje\u2019s] best shot at catching him is catching him in between
\nIlia\u2019s exchanges. I think Ilia has too sharp eyes for Justin to
\nlead and catch him\u2026 Ilia is crazy poised, his eyes are on all the
\ntime, and he has great posture\u2026 Justin has a tendency to lose his
\neyes. So in between exchanges, his eyes are not on his opponent.
\nThey are way over [to the side]. And that\u2019s like knockout city. One
\nother bad habit Justin has is, he hard covers. He stays right
\nthere, doesn\u2019t pop out, doesn\u2019t get an angle, he shells up, and he
\nhard covers. Which I always felt is a terrible defense in MMA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarez had knocked Gaethje out with a knee to the chin in their
\nUFC 218 clash in 2017. The only damage Gaethje had managed to land
\nwas with his calf kicks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Eddie
\nAlvarez<\/a> breaks down how Justin
\nGaethje<\/a> can beat Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think his best shot is catching him in between Ilia\u2019s exchanges.
\nIlia has too sharp of eyes for Justin to lead and catch him. Justin
\nhas to be brave and go in between, when Ilia goes then Justin has
\nto go\u201d pic.twitter.com\/VrDthZUWet<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma)
\nJune 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Gaethje\u2019s former opponent, Eddie Alvarez, recently shared insight on what makes him tick. Interim champion Gaethje (27-5) challenges Ilia Topuria (17-0) for the lightweight title in the UFC White House: Freedom 250 main event on June 14. Alvarez advised Gaethje to rely on his signature leg kicks. Alvarez also believes Gaethje\u2019s best chance at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}