Justin Gaethje no longer obsesses over expressing his violent side. He doesn't have to seek out violence, it's in his nature. If Gaethje executes a perfect fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 291 on Saturday, violence will naturally follow.
The ceremonial BMF championship is at stake in Salt Lake City and no two fighters fit the bill quite like Poirier and Gaethje. The lightweight contenders run back their 2018 Fight of the Year on Saturday. Gaethje has the unique distinction of averaging one Fight of the Night or Performance of the Night bonus in his first 11 UFC fights. The two-time lightweight title challenger was once focused on living up to his reputation as "The Highlight." But with experience comes mounting evidence that Gaethje has no need for blood thirst.
"I think with age comes wisdom," Gaethje told CBS Sports. "I've been able to really grow in that aspect of that sport. Being more technical and understanding that I need to fight a perfect fight. Not necessarily going in there and trying to be tenacious and use my tenacity as the main factor. I really need to be more focused, stay within myself and be more patient.
"I always create damage no matter what. Whether I'm trying to or not somehow their faces are always mangled by the end of the fight. I just need to wait for those opportunities and land those shots."
Check out the full interview with Justin Gaethje below.
Violence follows Gaethje like a shadow. One Fight of the Year after another took a serious toll on his mind, body and spirit. The last two years marked the first of Gaethje's 12-year career where he didn't fight multiple times. It's another sign of growth for a fighter determined to best situate himself to capture that elusive UFC championship. Asked if Gaethje could make the 11-week turnaround for UFC 294 -- should complications arise with Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2 -- Gaethje gave an emphatic no.
"I would say there's a 0% chance," Gaethje said. "The UFC isn't going to protect you. It's just the name of the game. You got to take time in between these fights. Not just the fights, but the training camps. I just went through 12 weeks of training extremely hard six days a week. Your body gets broken down. It's something that you really need to focus on is understanding that you need to go through a healing process every time you step in there. The physical aspect but I would say even the mental aspect is a traumatic life experience every time you step in there. You really need to take some time to heal every time you do that."
Even something as small as a takedown points to Gaethje's maturation. Gaethje was a solid collegiate wrestler but went 10 UFC fights without so much as shooting for a takedown. He attempted three and secured the first takedown of his UFC career against Rafael Fiziev in March. It was a moment of celebration for fans and analysts begging Gaethje to round out his game plan. For Gaethje, it was simply the right decision at the moment.
"I wanted to seal the deal on that round and make sure there was no doubt in the judges' minds [who won]," Gaethje said. "That's all there was to it."
