Josh Thomson, the former Strikeforce lightweight king, has an interesting take on the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He reckons Justin Gaethje could give Islam Makhachev, the current 155-pound ruler, a run for his money.
Makhachev, with a record of 25-1, has recently shown interest in fighting a new opponent. He’s considering Gaethje, who has a record of 25-4, instead of rematches against Charles Oliveira or Arman Tsarukyan. Thomson’s thinking? Gaethje, also known as “The Highlight,” could be Makhachev’s toughest challenge yet.
The reason? Their fighting styles are like night and day. Gaethje’s notorious for avoiding wrestling. On the flip side, Makhachev’s wrestling style is anything but conventional. The Dagestani fighter enjoys working on sweeps and trips from the clinch. And that’s where Gaethje can be a real threat.
Thomson shared his thoughts on the “Weighing In” podcast. He said, “I believe right now out of all of them, the hardest fight for him is Justin Gaethje. You say ‘no’ because of the wrestling, and I understand why you say no. But I say this: Islam has a tendency sometimes to stand in the pocket a little bit too long, and he can’t afford to do that with Justin; and his wrestling is not double-leg takedown wrestling.”
Gaethje’s not one to hang around in that clinch for too long. He’s good at breaking out of the clinch. He’s good at keeping you out of that clinch area and letting his hands go. Dirty boxing, uppercuts; he possesses the power to land the shot out of the break. He’s a dangerous fight for Islam. Very dangerous.”
In 2020, Gaethje suffered a submission loss in a title unification bout against Makhachev’s predecessor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, at UFC 254. Thomson further noted that while Nurmagomedov managed to take Gaethje down, he had to walk through several cracking shots from Gaethje, a feat “The Eagle” was known for. However, Thomson doubts if Makhachev can afford to take flush shots from “The Highlight.”
Thomson concluded, “I’m saying that we’ve seen Justin can take it. He can deliver it. His only weakness in this fight is that if his back hits the ground, it could be over quick. And I’m saying it will potentially hit there, but I say that if you’re going to look at who is the most dangerous fight for him, and we saw it with Khabib in the first round. Khabib took some big shots from Justin in that first round, and Khabib just walked him down. Islam’s not going to fight him that way. He can’t afford to fight him that way. He can’t afford to take the shot that Khabib took. He can’t, and he’s got to close that distance to get to that takedown.”