After securing the 20th knockout victory of his MMA career over Dustin Poirier in the main event at UFC 291 this past weekend, we have decided to take a deep dive into the MMA career of Justin Gaethje. Read on to find out more about his professional MMA record, his UFC record and how many knockouts he has under his belt.
Justin Gaethje MMA Record
Justin Gaethje turned professional back in 2011 with a debut victory against Kevin Croom in Broomfield, Colorado. Since then, Gaethje has had another 28 professional MMA fights, winning all but four of them.
Gaethje’s career has been nothing short of magnificent to date. ‘The Highlight’ has some huge wins in recent time in the UFC over the likes of Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Rafael Fiziev, Edson Barboza and Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone.
There is no question that Justin Gaethje is arguably the single most entertaining fighter on the UFC roster, as well as being one of the most likeable characters in all of MMA. His career up to now has been sensational, and he still has some big nights left before he hangs his gloves up.
As previously mentioned, Justin Gaethje made his professional MMA debut over a decade now. He was on an ROF 41: Bragging Rights card where he made the perfect start to his career by winning via first round knockout. Gaethje then had 16 more fights as a pro MMA fighter before signing a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
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Justin Gaethje has fought everyone in the UFC. He has fought every single fighter in and around the lightweight division in his eight fights in the UFC, ducking nobody as well as always being in a cracking fight. The Arizona man won his first UFC fight, defeating Michael Johnson in The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale, winning the fight via TKO in Round 2.
However, ‘The Highlight’ then lost his next two fights in the UFC against Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier respectively. Alvarez stopped Gaethje at UFC 218 via knockout in the third round via a big knee, before then losing to Poirier in his following fight via TKO due to punches in four rounds.
Then, Gaethje got back to winning ways with an emphatic victory over James Vick in the main event in a UFC Fight Night back in 2018. He won via knockout in the very first round, which he also did in his following fight with Edson Barboza in March 2019.
‘The Highlight’ then claimed a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus in his next fight as he knocked UFC veteran Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone out in the very first round. That made it three first round KO’s on the spin for Gaethje, before claiming the biggest win of his career next.
That’s right, Justin Gaethje stopped Tony Ferguson via knockout in the fifth and final round at UFC 249, winning the Interim UFC Lightweight Title in the process. The fight was truly remarkable, with Ferguson taking some huge shots from Gaethje, before ‘The Highlight’ finally ended the show in the fifth round.
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Next was a fight for Justin Gaethje for the full UFC Lightweight Title against the great Khabib Nurmagomedov. Gaethje was submitted in two rounds, before then bouncing back with a tremendous win over Michael Chandler at UFC 268.
Then came Gaethje’s second shot at the UFC Lightweight Title, where he took on Brazil’s Charles Oliveira. Just like his first shot at UFC gold at 155-pounds, Gaethje was submitted once again, this time in the very first round in the main event at UFC 274. However, he bounced back with a win at UFC 286, defeating Rafael Fiziev by unanimous decision.
Last time out was Justin Gaethje most emphatic victory. In his huge rematch with Dustin Poirier in the main event at UFC 291, Gaethje securing the best knockout of his career, landing a perfectly timed head-kick right on the skull of Poirier. Gaethje knocked ‘The Diamond’ out cold in the second, round winning the BMF Title in the process, as well as avenging the loss from five years previous.
That takes us up to now in the career of Justin Gaethje. There is no doubt that Gaethje is one of the best fighters at lightweight right now. Not only that, but he is always in remarkable fights and is undoubtedly the most entertaining fighter at lightweight. His ‘The Highlight’ nickname is certainly apt.
The list of names the 34-year-old has defeated is simply incredible. Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, Edson Barboza, Donald Cerrone and Tony Ferguson are just some of the stellar names Gaethje has defeated in his illustrious career to date.
Be sure to claim the various sports betting apps and UFC free bets available on the SportsLens site ahead of Gaethje’s next fight.
