Justin Gaethje will look to become the UFC Lightweight Champion in his second attempt as he takes on Charles Oliveira in the UFC 274 headliner, in what promises to be an exciting match-up between two of the best lightweights in the division right now!
Ahead of the fight, Justin Gaethje laid out his game plan to beat the Brazilian native and revealed his lessons from his last failed attempt to grab the undisputed gold.
Justin Gaethje shared the UFC Octagon with Khabib Nurmagomedov back at UFC 254. After a fiery first round, Nurmagomedov got the better of Gaethje with a second-round submission win.
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Once again, going against a seasoned grappler in the form of Charles Oliveira, Gaethje revealed the only mistake he made against Khabib Nurmagomedov back at UFC 274 and vowed to not repeat it ever in his mixed martial arts career.
Justin Gaethje says he will knockout Charles Oliveira at UFC 274
In the UFC 274 Countdown, Justin Gaethje opened up on his mistake during his first attempt at the undisputed lightweight gold. “The only time I’ve ever, took another strategy, where I wasn’t going to move forward, was against Khabib, and I will never do that again.” (25:50)
One can argue why Gaethje would have gone with the change of strategy against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Arguably one of the most dominant grapplers the world of mixed martial arts has ever seen, Nurmagomedov was a force to be reckoned with on the ground.
Justin Gaethje is an explosive fighter, who likes to walk down his opponents and force them into a slugfest. However, the approach could have backfired against Nurmagomedov, whose ability to neutralize seasoned strikers and pull the fight to the ground was next to none. While that’s what happened, it wasn’t because Gaethje pressured Khabib, but vice-versa.
Looking back at it, Justin Gaethje is confident he is going inside the Octagon with his usual strategy and seemingly determined how he is going to approach Charles Oliveira at UFC 274.
While the scare of submissions and being taken down still exists, it won’t be wrong to say that Gaethje has tried to remain on the back foot against a grappler and lost. So it gives him all the more reasons to not approach Charles Oliveira with the same strategy at UFC 274.