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Ahead of his fight at UFC 268, Justin Gaethje sat down for a chat with Kevin Iole for Yahoo! Sports.
During the interview, 'The Highlight' touched upon various topics, including his state of mind leading up to UFC 268 and his experience training with UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
At one point, the conversation steered in the direction of Gaethje's last fight, which took place over a year ago against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254. The 32-year-old said that his heart rate was higher than usual the morning he got up to fight 'The Eagle'.
"This is gonna sound like an excuse but when I woke up and I fought Tony Ferguson, my heart rate that morning was sitting at like 36. And when I woke up and I fought Khabib [Nurmagomedov], my heart rate that morning was like 72... I knew something was not right. I don't know what it was and I don't think I'll ever have an answer."
Khabib submitted 'The Highlight' in the second round to defend his lightweight title for the third time.
Justin Gaethje thinks fighting in Abu Dhabi might have affected his performance at UFC 254
Gaethje added that fighting in Abu Dhabi might have played a factor in his ability to perform to the best of his abilities last October. His unification bout with Khabib took place during the UFC's second 2020 stint on Fight Island.
"It [the fight] being halfway across the planet, if you are a creature of habit, you are completely out of your world. There was nothing there that I could keep, you know, a structure to. I had no control of food, water, anything, no control of the time zone. You know, those may have all been factors, I'm not sure, I don't know why my body wasn't primed to perform that day and I felt that after the first round. I felt every single bit of it. I felt tired, exhausted and I'm sure most of it was his ability to walk through my shots and put pressure, a constant pressure on me. That was probably the biggest factor and the other factors, I can't understand or explain."
Justin Gaethje is currently scheduled to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 268 this weekend. The winner could potentially be next in line for a title shot.
