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Justin Gaethje is getting a second shot at the undisputed UFC lightweight title on Saturday night when he faces 155-pound champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 274.
'The Highlight' has looked nearly unstoppable over the past four years, with the only blemish on his record during that time coming at the hands of Khabib Nurmagomedov. With coach Trevor Wittman by his side, Gaethje has become more technical and deadlier than ever.
In a new interview with Yahoo! Sports, Dana White broke down why Gaethje is such a tough opponent. He said:
"He's got a great chin. Unbelievable knockout power in both hands. Vicious leg kicks. And great takedown defense. It doesn't get any more dangerous than that. He goes in there, everything he throws has bad intentions on it, whether it's either one of his hands or those leg kicks. He's got in my opinion one of the most underrated leg kicks in the sport. People don't talk about it as much as they should. Khabib finished him quickly in Abu Dhabi, but he had to. Those leg kicks were hard, and I'm sure very very painful."
White also pointed out that UFC 274 takes place a few hours from Justin Gaethje's hometown of Safford, Arizona. He said:
"Gaethje has the opportunity to win the title in his home state. So you can imagine it's gonna be very Gaethje heavy, the fan base there."
Watch the full Yahoo! Sports interview with Dana White below:
Justin Gaethje thinks Michael Chandler would have died if their fight was five rounds
Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Chandler at UFC 268 was a Fight of the Year contender for many fans. Michael Chandler has said he hopes Gaethje wins against Charles Oliveira at UFC 274 so the two can fight again, this time over five rounds for the UFC lightweight title.
According to Justin Gaethje, that's a bad idea. In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, Gaethje suggested two extra rounds would be too much for Chandler to handle. He said:
“In the first round, for about a minute-and-a-half, Chandler had a chance. A minute or two into the second round, it was over. And if it goes five rounds, he might die. And that’s— I don’t want that to happen, I never wanna hurt somebody like that. But he was in a bad spot and I was landing some seriously, seriously significant shots in that fight. He wasn’t able to get it to the ground, and he was gonna continue to take that damage. If he would’ve stayed on the leg kicks, then it woulda maybe been a different fight.”
Michael Chandler fights Tony Ferguson further down the UFC 274 main card and is looking to redeem himself after two tough losses to the fighters in the main event, Gaethje and Oliveira.
