Justin Gaethje Says He Wouldn’t Have Taken Short Notice Fight vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov

Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 249 live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app.

Advertisement

Justin Gaethje did something out of character when he accepted a short-notice fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249.

Fortunately for the former World Series of Fighting champion, the original date of April 18 fell through, so he was given more time than originally expected to prepare. Still, it fell far short of the length of one of his normal camps.

“Six weeks til I fight is when I found out. I’ve never done a fight with that little time,” Gaethje told BT Sport. Usually I take 10-12 weeks. Right when we heard, we ramped it up and tried to get to peak shape as soon as possible.”

Gaethje says he was already in decent condition after having helped Elevation Fight Team stablemates Neil Magny and Austin Hubbard prepare for their respective bouts at UFC 246 on Jan. 18. In addition to fighting on short notice, training during the coronavirus pandemic has provided its own unique set of challenges.

“So I have a private gym. CDC says under 10 people, so we haven’t had more than 10 people in the gym at once,” Gaethje said. “In this sport you always have to be ready to step up for somebody else because you never know when you’re gonna need the training partners. I’ve had great teammates. I’ve had great training partners and sparring partners — Kamaru Usman and Beneil Dariush last week.”

If circumstances had been different and Gaethje had been asked to step in against reigning lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov instead of Ferguson, he might not be in the situation he is now.

“I don’t think I would have taken the fight against Khabib on short notice,” Gaethje said.

According to Gaethje, preparing for Nurmagomedov’s wrestling is something that requires the benefit of a full camp. While Ferguson can be unpredictable in the Octagon, he doesn’t provide the same type of challenge as the Dagestani grappler.

“Matchup-wise, I think I have a much better chance of touching Tony’s chin than Khabib’s, in the first two, three rounds,” Gaethje said. “In order to get taken down once or twice by Khabib, and work up, and still be able to fight, I really do need at least 10 weeks. You know I’ve been training my whole life but there’s certain lactic acid that builds up that you really have to account for.

“No matter what, this is not perfect circumstances, but a fight is a fight. When it was on 14 day’s notice, that was much different than now, or 20 day’s notice. Now I’ve had five weeks to train, it’s not what I’ve asked for, or wanted, but I do believe that before this I was in better shape. I didn’t let myself go. I was telling myself since the beginning of the year, I was gonna fight again and it was gonna be a big fight.”