UFC 324: Justin Gaethje continues to fight on in pursuit of elusive full world title despite incredible resume

While it should come as no surprise to any MMA fan why all-action legend Justin Gaethje is nicknamed "The Highlight," following 14 unforgettable walks to the Octagon over the past eight years as a former UFC interim lightweight and BMF champion, the origin of the moniker dates back to 2011. 

Gaethje, who was just two months removed from concluding a Division I All-American run as a wrestler at the University of Northern Colorado, was a 21-year-old set for his pro MMA debut against future Bellator MMA and UFC veteran Kevin Croom at Ring of Fire 41 in Broomfield, Colorado. 

"I had only wrestled [before] and had never been punched or thrown a punch in my life," Gaethje told CBS Sports on Tuesday. "I picked [Croom] up and [Quinton] 'Rampage' [Jackson]-esque bodyslammed him. He was asleep for 10 minutes and pissed himself. I hate to tell that story because it's embarrassing for him but if he could push a button and change sides with me, he certainly would."

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Gaethje, who would need just 61 seconds to finish Croom off by slamming him on his face, was anointed as "The Highlight" that night by the event's promoter. And nearly 15 years later, as the 37-year-old Gaethje (26-5) prepares for his final run at an elusive full UFC championship when he faces Paddy Pimblett (23-3) on Saturday for the interim 155-pound title in the main event of UFC 324 in Las Vegas, neither his mindset nor his ability to create violent and viral moments has changed.  

"I hope I make Paddy piss himself in front of millions of people on Saturday," Gaethje said.

The fighting career of Gaethje, who was raised in Safford, Arizona, has been as unique as any in the modern era of the sport. 

Even before he fully evolved from the standpoint of skills and technique as a pro fighter, he was finding success (and slowly building his name among hard-core fans) simply by outlasting his opponents in one all-out brawl after another. In his 11th pro fight, he captured the inaugural lightweight title in World Series of Fighting (which would later become PFL) and made five unforgettable title defenses. 

In 2017, Gaethje brought his 18-0 record to the UFC in the main event of "The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption" finale in Las Vegas against lightweight veteran Michael Johnson. The result was nearly 10 minutes of carnage highlighted by such insane and dramatic shifts of momentum that it looked more like a "Rocky" movie scene than a typical UFC fight. 

Gaethje, who twice rebounded from getting wobbled into near unconsciousness, rallied to stop Johnson late in Round 2 and cemented his iconic UFC debut by landing his patented backflip off the top of the Octagon wall. 

"For me, personally, I think Michael Johnson was my favorite [fight]," Gaethje said. "He was ranked No. 5 at the time and it was my first time getting to come into the UFC and fight in front of a crowd like that. To prove that I was the best in the world and top five in the world was a great honor for me and something that I haven't stepped out of. I have been in the top five since 2017. We have seen guys come and go and I have been here the whole time."

Not only did Gaethje prove he belonged despite engaging in a fighting style that appeared to be anything but sustainable over the longhaul, the victory kicked off an insane run of consistently great fights that have left many fans and critics debating the same question: Is it too much to declare that Justin Gaethje is the greatest action fighter in the history of MMA, if not all of combat sports? 

"No, it's not [too much]," UFC president and CEO Dana White told CBS Sports on Wednesday. "[Gaethje] is never in a bad fight. The kid is always exciting and action-packed."

Being exciting typically only gets you so far in the UFC, particularly against elite competition. And even though Gaethje's name value was still buzzing from the sheer savagery of the Johnson fight, he would find out a humbling lesson in his next two fights when "The Highlight" finally met a pair of fellow lightweight legends in Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier who could both endure Gaethje's unyielding offensive attack without folding. 

"When I was young and I hadn't lost, I just said that I am going to go through these guys and try to kill them. They were never able to withstand my pressure," Gaethje said. "Then, I started fighting the best guys in the world and I had to realize that I needed to use different variables to win."

Even though Gaethje's back-to-back bouts against Alvarez and Poirier would only continue his run of producing fight-of-the-year contenders, he lost both fights via brutal late stoppages due to the accumulation of damage he had endured. The fallout would lead to a turning point in Gaethje's career following a series of conversations with career-long coach Trevor Wittman that forced Gaethje to understand that fighting smart and avoiding mistakes was just as important as aggression and attitude.

Gaethje, who made sure to emphasize that he agreed to change tactics but not his all-action mentality, ran off an immediate four-fight win streak of knockouts that culminated in a 2020 dismantling of Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 that saw Gaethje snap his opponent's 12-fight win streak and capture the interim lightweight title. 

"Justin has grown so much as a fighter. He has become a lot more savvy and smart," Wittman told "UFC Countdown" cameras during a recent tour of his ONX Sports gym in Colorado. "When his purpose used to be, 'I want to be the most exciting fighter out there,' he lived by that. Then, he wanted to go on a title run and we had to adjust to what his purpose was. Every time I asked him his purpose, he said, 'I want to be a champion but I want to make sure that if someone pays for an event, they will remember my fight.'"

But even though Gaethje succeeded in becoming an elite fighter without compromising his barbaric ethos, climbing that final hurdle to become full UFC champion wasn't meant to be. Gaethje would go on to twice fight for the lightweight crown and twice succumb to submissions in disappointing losses to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2020 and against Charles Oliveira for the vacant title in 2022. 

Gaethje, who would rebound in 2023 by avenging the loss to Poirier with a head-kick knockout win at UFC 291 to win the symbolic BMF title, still believes that his surefire Hall-of-Fame career remains incomplete without a lightweight title and that's the reason why he's embarking upon this final run. 

"Of course, I have to that [title] in my body [of work]," Gaethje said. "I want to be the best in the world and prove that I am the best in the world. People need to understand how crazy this sport is. It's the most intriguing sport in the world because anything can happen at any moment. When a [football] team is up 42-10, there is no chance the [other] team is coming back. But when I was up 4-0 [in rounds] against Tony Ferguson, there was still a chance he could knock me out."

Even though Gaethje enters the Pimblett fight on a bit of a rejuvenated run having won three of his last four (including a pair of hard-fought decisions against contender Rafael Fiziev), it was the one loss during that stretch -- a one-punch knockout at the hands of Max Holloway with one second to go in Round 5 of their BMF title bout at UFC 300 in 2024 -- that proved to be his true "Welcome to the UFC" moment of humbling, despite it having come 13 fights into his run.  

It's the reason why Gaethje has done nothing but show respect ahead of UFC 324 for the danger that his opponent brings after he failed to do the same inside the cage against Holloway. 

"That's the first time I ever approached this game as this is just for fun," Gaethje said. "I love what I do and I was just going to go out there to fight rather than understanding how dangerous what I do is. I've always convinced myself they are going to kill me and I've always been willing to kill them and that just wasn't where my mindset was in that fight. That was a come-to-Jesus moment that I better take it seriously, especially because it's the most serious repercussions that I suffered.

"It's the only time I have ever been knocked out and I know how detrimental that was to my family and I never want to put them through that again."

Even though Wittman has said publicly that Gaethje will retire if he loses to Pimblett, those are words that Gaethje said never came from his mouth and currently aren't part of his plans. After having been a betting underdog in 10 of his 14 UFC fights, Gaethje is embracing that role once more against Pimblett and believes not only will he regain the interim title on Saturday, it will set him up for a White House fight in June against either full champion Ilia Topuria or the winner of the March 7 BMF title rematch between two fighters who previously beat him: Holloway and Oliveira. 

"I'm happy I'm the underdog and I'm happy to be fighting someone so confident with so much momentum behind them because one thing you must understand in this game is, I don't care how confident you are, you better be perfect," Gaethje said. "And he's going to make mistakes and I'm going to take advantage of his mistakes. I've said it before but I don't plan on being alive after Saturday night. I have to tell myself that he's going to kill me so that I can go into my most primal place.

"I love the pressure, I love the moments and I love the adrenaline -- it's the best drug in the world." 

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