{"id":39088,"date":"2026-07-02T05:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Despite-setbacks-Justin-Gaethje-never-lost-hope-of-becoming-undisputed-UFC-champ-201725"},"modified":"2026-07-02T05:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T05:20:18","slug":"despite-setbacks-justin-gaethje-never-lost-hope-of-becoming-undisputed-ufc-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/despite-setbacks-justin-gaethje-never-lost-hope-of-becoming-undisputed-ufc-champ\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite setbacks, Justin Gaethje never lost hope of becoming undisputed UFC champ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Despite coming up short in his two previous attempts at undisputed
\ngold in the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a>, Justin
\nGaethje<\/a> never lost faith.<\/p>\n

Gaethje became an undisputed champion for the first time at
\n
\nUFC Freedom 250<\/a> at the White House in Washington, D.C., and it
\nwasn\u2019t an easy path. After nearly being finished in the second
\nround courtesy of a body shot, Gaethje rallied and bounced back to
\nbeat Ilia
\nTopuria<\/a> in a massive upset in the main event.<\/p>\n

\n

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

Gaethje previously lost by submission to Khabib
\nNurmagomedov<\/a> and Charles
\nOliveira<\/a> in championship bouts, in addition to losing the BMF
\nbelt via knockout to Max
\nHolloway<\/a>. Nevertheless, \u201cThe Highlight\u201d always knew he\u2019d
\nachieve his goals.<\/p>\n

Justin Gaethje reflects on his path to glory<\/h2>\n

During the latest episode the \u201cWhat Hones You\u201d podcast, Trevor
\nWittman, Gaethje\u2019s coach, asked the champ about the doubts he had
\nregarding whether he\u2019d actually become an undisputed champion. The
\nUFC lightweight replied, \u201cI mean, it doesn\u2019t sound practical to
\nsay\u2026 I never thought that it was gone. Because going through those
\ntwo fights, and then the Max Holloway fight after that, it made it
\nreal difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaethje then recalled falling out of championship contention,
\nsaying, \u201cBefore the Max fight, I was on a two or three-fight
\nwinning streak? I had knocked out Dustin
\nPoirier<\/a>. I was definitely planning on fighting for the belt
\nnext. I think Oliveira had [the shot], that\u2019s when Topuria came up
\nto lightweight, and they made that fight. So, I was like, sh*t,
\nthat kind of throws a wrench in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second win over Rafael
\nFiziev<\/a> put Gaethje back in the mix, and he then took on
\nPaddy
\nPimblett<\/a> for the interim title, which he won to set up the
\nTopuria title unification bout. A corner stoppage at UFC Freedom
\n250 saw the American finally claim undisputed gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really lost hope. I always knew that I was performing
\nbetter than I had; I knew that my body still felt as good as it
\never did. I knew that this sport was crazy, and I just had to put
\nwins together. And, yeah, that was the mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n