Gaethje Hopes Holloway Goes Down Before Taking 'Tony Ferguson-Esque' Beating

Justin Gaethje would ideally like to replicate his performance against Tony Ferguson in his upcoming clash against Max Holloway, ideally minus the ruthless beatdown.

Gaethje is slated to put his BMF title on the line against Holloway at UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. Gaethje looks to be technical instead of letting his emotions steer the wheel, a vital lesson he learned in his failed title bid against Charles Oliveira in 2022. Ideally, “The Highlight” would like to put on a dominant performance like he did against Ferguson but hopes Holloway goes down before “El Cucuy” did.

“The only time it gets dirty is when I get caught up emotional. I think Oliveira, that was the last fight that I really needed to learn that lesson, and I learned that lesson and I’m not gonna go back to being that fighter. You know, if I dream of a perfect scenario, it’s very Tony Ferguson-esque, I think with the intentions of not hitting him as much. I hope he goes to sleep before Tony did,” Gaethje said in an interview with ESPN

However, if the fight does play out like the Ferguson fight, Gaethje can see Holloway putting on a similar display of grit. And at the end of the day, Gaethje doesn’t mind putting on as much punishment as he needs to, knowing that his opponent would do the same to him if given the choice.

“Something about Tony, you know, wouldn’t allow him to go to sleep, and I think it was his fighting spirit and unfortunately if I do find success there, I think Max has that same fighting spirit. You know, I will have to do a lot of damage and it’s what I love to do. I know it’s me or them. I know people think you would feel bad but if they could press a button, change places with me after they’re all f—-d up, then they would do that,” the 35-year-old said. “And I’m not gonna take care of them when I'm in there. They signed the contract, I see it as a game, as a sport and I’m very competitive. So, I’m going in there to win, and the way for me to win is create damage, create car crashes.”

Gaethje put on a lopsided beating on Ferguson on the way to a Round 5 technical knockout victory, to secure the interim lightweight title at UFC 249Khabib Nurmagomedov had correctly predicted, Ferguson was never the same again, dropping six straight outings since. Gaethje doesn’t feel remorseful about the beating he put on Ferguson, which he believes took away “El Cucuy’s” confidence.

“No [remorse],” Gaethje said. “No, because again, if he could change places with me, he would do that in a heartbeat. It’s my job. It’s what I do. Luckily I was successful that night. Not my problem. But I don’t think it’s the fact that I took his skills away, I think I took his confidence away and I think confidence is the biggest factor when you’re in there. That’s why I think Sean O’Malley is performing so well, because he’s so confident. And it’s not fake, it’s real confidence because of the outcomes. And I think his [Ferguson’s] confidence is not there after that outcome.”