Gaethje: Johnson, McGregor are quitters
Justin Gaethje: “He’ll outtalk me, that’s for damn sure but he ain’t gonna outwork me. His skillset is special, he’s got a great left hand. But we’ve seen him quit.”
Former WSOF lightweight champion Justin Gaethje was one of the few top-10 fighters that had never been in the UFC. Now, after going 7-0 as an amateur and 17-0 as a pro, he makes his league debut vs. Michael Johnson on Friday, July 7 at The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption finale.
Gaethje is intent on becoming recognized as the best lightweight fighter on Earth. Beating the #5 ranked Johnson will go some ways towards establishing that, but the King is Conor McGregor. During a recent appearance on UFC Unfiltered, Gaethje was not impressed.
Skill wise, there’s nobody that’s gonna outwork me,” said Gaethje, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “He’ll outtalk me, that’s for damn sure but he ain’t gonna outwork me. His skillset is special, he’s got a great left hand. But we’ve seen him quit. He’s got quit in his heart and once a quitter, always a quitter.
I’m gonna get that opportunity. I’m gonna get the interim belt around my waist and then when he comes back, he has to fight me. [I’ll] make it a dogfight, make it a war, everything he doesn’t want it to be.
Absolutely [I’m calling for a title shot after the Johnson fight]. Like I said, if I get that belt around my waist, there’s no question who he has to fight when he comes back. Well, he can fight whoever the hell he wants obviously but if I have the interim title and I’m finishing people like I know I can, he has to fight me.
Gaethje was equally dismissive of Johnson.
Like I said with Conor, once a quitter, always a quitter,” said the former All American wrestler. “[Johnson] has 11 losses on his record and six or seven of them are decisions. That’s six or seven times you got outworked. That will never be the case in one of my fights. When I lose, I’ll get knocked out. It won’t be because I got outworked or outskilled or anything like that.
I’m gonna be strong. Hopefully I can get him in the air and put his head through the mat a couple of times. I think at first I’ll be fighting Michael Johnson the fighter and 10 minutes in I’ll be fighting Michael Johnson the track star.
