Washington — After the build-up to their UFC Freedom 250 main event took a personal turn this week, interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje hopes he’s under Ilia Topuria’s skin.
“I hope so. I hope so. I hope he’s going to come out very aggressive,” Gaethje (27-5) told media outlets including Cageside Press during media day on Wednesday.
Gaethje isn’t exactly known for his trash talk, and added that “I’m definitely not trying to be something I’m not. Most of the time I’m just being a funny guy. I think I’m a pretty funny guy.”
The clash between the two seems to stem from Gaethje making comments saying he understood why Topuria’s wife divorced the Georgian fighter. But he noted on Wednesday that those comments were in jest. “When something’s in text, it’s very, very hard to understand the context of things, rather than when you see a video.”
The video of Gaethje’s comments has never surfaced, and he insisted that “I was joking. I thought it was funny.”
Asked where Topuria, who has defeated Max Holloway, Alexander Volkanovski, and Charles Oliveira in his last three fights, ranks, Gaethje was complimentary.
“He’s up there. His last three fights have been spectacular. He is one of the best in the world. He is the best in the world right now. He’s considered the best in the world, top two, he’s number two on the pound-for-pound list, and yeah, this is a huge task for me. Huge underdog. And I love the challenge.”
Of course, this fight comes on the White House lawn. Gaethje is no stranger to big stages, from Abu Dhabi to New York City. Yet he tries not to build things up too much.
“I use it for lessons, for lessons to not repeat. Oliveira was at home, home field advantage in Arizona. I had already failed fighting for the belt once, my second chance, I wanted it so bad and the more you want something, the worse you do sometimes. You can’t make it bigger than what it is.”
One thing to factor in, fighting on the White House lawn, is the weather, however.
“The humidity is the only thing that’s going to be a factor. We’re either going to be sweatier, or hotter.” Gaethje has hit the saunas prior to working out to prepare for that. “Really, really peaked my body temperature so I have to perform in that atmosphere.”
Topuria, he believes, may have also backed himself into a corner.
“The way he’s talked about me and the way he’s diminished my abilities really puts him into a corner where he has to have a spectacular performance or else he’s going to— even if he wins and has a tough fight, he’s going to have a tough fight against a guy that he says does not belong in the cage with him.”
That puts the pressure on Topuria, Gaethje believes, but “The Highlight” went on to add that “this life comes with pressure.”
Watch the full UFC Freedom 250 media day appearance by Justin Gaethje above. Gaethje faces Ilia Topuria in a lightweight title unification bout this Sunday, June 14 at the White House in Washington, D.C.