Justin Gaethje speaks to the media ahead of his “50/50” rematch against Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City.
With the fight taking place in Salt Lake City, we know that altitude could play a massive factor like last year. “I think it’s gonna help with the confidence, It’s part of the game.”
Gaethje eyes a future title fight with a win on Saturday evening. “Yea absolutely, I think it’s number 2 vs number 3 and number 1 is fighting the champion in October and the winner will fight the winner.”
Gaethje claims he’s been training at higher altitudes than Salt Lake City, Utah. “I’ve been pushing myself extremely hard at altitude, higher altitudes than this but tired is tired and we’re both gonna tire.”
“Have to be more technical no matter what, of course, I’m happy to fight fire with fire but make no mistakes, take advantage of their mistakes and make no mistakes”, Justin answered when asked about whether times get tough during the battle on Saturday if at any point he would throw the technical ability out of the window and just turn into the brawler that he used to be known for.
Justin reflects on what is different this time around and what he can take from their previous meeting. “With age comes wisdom, I remember he has a really nice left hand, beautiful left hand.”
Pondering what his family’s reaction was to him accepting the Poirier rematch, Justin Gaethje laughed, “My family is extremely competitive, if we go bowling we have to take different vehicles because someone will end up hurt.”
Justin Gaethje Has His Say On BMF Belt
Gaethje plans on using the BMF belt as a stepping stone to the top instead of focussing on defending it afterwards. “The aspiration is the championship gold. The BMF title should elevate us to that.”
Gaethje when asked about whether he’d even want a Poirier training partner handing Justin the BMF belt, “Yeah I wanna make him [Masvidal] do it, that would be nice. I know he’ll hate it so I want it even more.
“Yeah, Islam, I want Charles because I’d love to have that back”, Justin’s take on the championship rematch in October.
Justin Gaethje showed respect to his foe come Saturday night, “We both fight the best, and we both continue to prove that, with that loss the trajectory is different but we’ve both been fighting towards a championship belt the entire time.”
“These people love fighting, the show last year was fantastic but I’m gonna give them a better show than last time, we and Dustin and the perfect dance partners.”
Gaethje discussed whether he thought the damage caused in his fight against Tony helped his recent dip in form, “No, I don’t think, for one, I think he’s crazy enough for that not to be a possibility, we fight a tough game and I think he won the first round against Chandler. This game is a confidence game.”
When asked about when Tony should hang up the gloves, he responded, “I mean, we’re all on a timeline, there’s a beginning and an end, and none of us in our mid-30s are towards the beginning.”
To watch the full interview head to MMA Junkie’s YouTube Channel.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
