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The way
UFC White House: Freedom 250 played out couldn’t have been
scripted better by Hollywood. All seven fights ended by knockout.
The pageantry and prestige of the walkouts featuring Medal of Honor
recipients and first responders, plus music from the United States
Marine Band, was perfect for the occasion. There was even a foiled
terrorist plot, though we didn’t find out until a couple days
after. To top everything off, the main event saw the American
underdog, Justin
Gaethje, upset previously undefeated Ilia
Topuria for the lightweight title to cap the evening. While
there were undoubtedly those rooting for Topuria, there wasn’t
anyone who was sad to see Gaethje rise up to the moment and claim
the undisputed title, attaining the one thing that had been eluding
him. It was truly a storybook night.

As soon as Marc Goddard
waved off the fight, there was immediately a debate of just how big
of an upset Gaethje’s victory was. It was certainly a massive
upset, but was it the greatest of all time? Was it bigger than
Matt
Serra upending Georges St.
Pierre? Or Holly Holm
delivering the head kick heard around the world on Ronda
Rousey? I would argue it is bigger than either.

Let’s break down Serra’s upset at UFC 69
first. Having bounced out of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, Serra managed to secure a title
shot against GSP as a reward for claiming “The Ultimate Fighter”
crown for Season 4. It was hardly a definitive victory either,
securing a split decision over Chris Lytle in
which each scorecard was 30-27 and no one thought a scorecard was
askew. That hardly paints a picture of a man deserving of a title
shot, much less be the man to end the reign of GSP.

However, there’s two factors that bring down the accomplishment
below Gaethje’s upset. First, St. Pierre wasn’t GSP yet. The
contest against Serra was GSP’s first after he claimed the title
from Matt
Hughes at UFC
65. He didn’t have a single successful title defense under his
belt at that point. It could be argued that loss is what created
the version of GSP that managed to close out his career with 13
consecutive victories, including nine title defenses. GSP never
underestimated an opponent again.

Second, the manner of victory is important to consider too. Serra
managed to clip GSP and put him away in the first round. In other
words, GSP got caught: It happens to everyone. Unfortunately for
GSP, Serra caught him good. In the case of Gaethje and
Topuria, it wasn’t a single punch that did the job. It was a brutal
beatdown that left Topuria bruised, bloodied and blind. That isn’t
to say Topuria didn’t have any success during the contest, but he
was a broken man by the end of the fight. Given it is generally the
levels of toughness and durability that separates the elite from
the rest, that’s a feat that is believe is being overlooked in all
the spectacle that has surrounded the event. Gaethje didn’t get
lucky. He was undeniably the better man in the cage, even if just
for the night.

So, what about Holm and Rousey? Holm didn’t just catch Rousey. Holm
battered Rousey from pillar to post for just over a round before
mercifully putting her out of her misery with the head kick. Not to
mention Rousey was the biggest mixed martial arts star on the
planet at the time and was at the peak of her powers. Even to this
day, nearly a decade later, Rousey remains one of the most
recognizable MMA practitioners despite having roughly a minute of
cage time since that loss. Essentially, the reasons I’ve given for
why Gaethje’s upset was superior to Serra’s aren’t applicable in
this case.

There’s a bit more nuance to my argument here, but it is just as
viable. Any serious follower of any sport can attest star power
doesn’t always equate to ability. For instance, Conor
McGregor is still the biggest MMA star despite the serious
possibility he isn’t even one of the Top 100 fighters on the UFC
roster. In 1994, B.J. Armstrong was voted to be an All-Star starter
largely because he was Michael
Jordan’s backcourt mate the previous season. A debate could
have been made whether he was a Top 100 player in the league, much
less a Top 10 player. Rousey was the biggest star on the planet at
the time. That hardly makes her the best fighter, especially in
retrospect.

Speaking of retrospect, what is the best win of Rousey’s career?
Miesha
Tate is the only other UFC champion she defeated. Liz
Carmouche became a champion in Bellator
MMA and the
Professional Fighters League at flyweight. Respectable wins,
but how do they compare to Topuria’s best wins? In three
consecutive fights, Topuria defeated Alexander
Volkanovski, Max
Holloway and Charles
Oliveira. Those three names aren’t just former champions, those
are three names that will go down in the annals of MMA history as
legends. It wasn’t just the fact Topuria beat them either. He KO’d
each and every one of them, something no one had been able to do to
Holloway, nor have they since. That’s keeping in mind Holloway has
only fought top competition for the last decade.

Rousey was obviously dominant, but it’s more because her level of
competition had yet to rise to the occasion prior to her defeat.
There was a clear road map to bringing her down; it was a matter if
anyone had the confidence and skill to pull it off. WMMA was still
developing at the highest levels. Holm finally rose to the
occasion. The road map to defeating Topuria was far less obvious.
He was slick enough on the ground to go right at Ryan Hall, one
of the best pure Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners the UFC has ever
seen. Topuria managed to evade being entangled by Bryce
Mitchell and Oliveira. He went toe-to-toe with with Josh Emmett
and Holloway and beat them at their own game. The path to victory
was less than obvious. All the more credit to Gaethje and his team
for identifying a path.

I get there will be plenty of people who disagree with me. They’re
entitled to be wrong (just playing). Regardless of anyone’s
opinion, Gaethje managed to rise to the occasion after having
looked like a shell of himself in his previous appearance — win or
not, he didn’t look good against Paddy
Pimblett — and did so on the biggest possible stage. Add
everything up and I’d say it’s clear Gaethje managed to pull off
the biggest upset in MMA history.