Gaethje vows to be a more careful fighter on Saturday

Justin Gaethje entered the UFC on a 17-fight winning streak (all but two inside the distance), having defended his WSoF lightweight championship five times. He won his league debut vs. Michael Johnson winning Fight of the Night and an additional performance bones. Gaethje has dropped the last two, to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier; both earned Fight of the Night.

Now Gaethje fights James Vick at UFC Fight Night 135: Gaethje vs. Vick on Saturday, August 25 at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. During an exclusive interview with Johan Taliercio for MMANytt, Gaethje said his UFC championship goal is unwavering.

100-percent,” he said. “When that’s not my goal, I will retire. I want to be the best. I want to be the best in the world.

The UFC, they are the hype machine, fighting on a UFC card there is nothing like it. Experience is a hell of a trait to have and now with some experience under my belt, it will do a lot of things for me.”

I’m going to be more comfortable in a sense and I’m going to be more vigilant in not getting comfortable in the fight. That comes with experience so yeah, I’m excited to go out there and do it again.”

If you watch the fights, you have to understand how close either one of us was to getting the ‘W’ and finishing that fight. For James Vick to sit here and say I’m a B-league fighter and I don’t deserve the accolades that I’m getting, the bonuses, the main events, the guy just doesn’t get it.

I’m painting a pretty clear picture of what pure effort can achieve in this sport and if you don’t want to pay attention, that’s not my problem.