Justin Gaethje is grateful for his insane knockout loss against Max Holloway.
In perhaps the most viral MMA moment of 2024, Holloway delivered a buzzer-beating KO against Gaethje at UFC 300, effectively turning ‘The Highlight’ into just that.
In the time since, Gaethje has bounced back with two big wins, including a solid victory over Rafael Fiziev and a five-round beatdown of Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 to once again become interim lightweight champion.
Next up for Gaethje, in all likelihood, is a showdown with reigning 155-pound king Ilia Topuria. Should Gaethje do the unthinkable and finally claim undisputed gold on MMA’s biggest stage, he believes that viral loss against ‘Blessed’ will ultimately help his legacy rather than hinder it.
“I’m glad I lost like that,” Gaethje told Pat McAfee. It’s a much better story for my legacy to lose like that than to let one more second go and just lose a decision. Me getting knocked out and then coming back and having two wins in a row makes those two wins much more inspiring, and it makes what I’m going to do at the end of my career that much more inspiring.”
“I’m glad I lost like that.” – Justin Gaethje is grateful for the KO loss to Max Holloway. 😲👏
“I’m glad I lost like that. It’s a much better story for my legacy to lose like that than to let one more second go and just lose a decision. Me getting knocked out and then coming… pic.twitter.com/JKX6xgmz23
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) February 6, 2026
Justin Gaethje open to third meeting with ‘The Diamond’
No official date has been set for Gaethje’s anticipated clash with Topuria, but ‘The Highlight’ did open the door for a potential threequel with another former interim champion — Dustin Poirier.
“Dustin’s a warrior, and I’ll always respect him,” Gaethje told Bloody Elbow when asked about a trilogy fight with his lightweight rival. “If he really wants to come back and the UFC wants that fight, I’d do it. But I’m focused on moving forward, not backward. I’ve got goals I’m chasing, and that’s where my attention is.”
Gaethje and Poirier are currently tied at 1-1, with Poirier taking the first meeting via a fourth-round knockout in April 2018. Five years later, they would run it back at UFC 291. This time, Gaethje would get his revenge, scoring a massive head-kick KO just 60 seconds into the second round.
