MMA Fighting - Justin Gaethje Questions If Dustin Poirier Would Accept a Rematch Against Him

Episode Date: November 12, 2021

Justin Gaethje discusses his epic win over Michael Chandler at UFC 268, his plans to compete for the lightweight title next and explains why he's not sold that Dustin Poirier would actually agreed to face him again if he's successful in his upcoming bout against Charles Oliveria with MMA Fighting's Damon Martin. Follow Damon Martin: @DamonMartin Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,

but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the audible original blockbuster, the downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, ghosts in the machine. Available now, only from Audible. To the Vox Media Podcast Network. Damon Martin, MMA fighting. I'm here with one of the big winners from UFC

268 and pretty much guaranteed fight of the year. Welcome back, Justin, Justin. How are you? I'm effing fantastic. Couldn't be better. Justin, I don't know. Did you see the video that just dropped of Michael Chandler kind of getting his face put back together after your fight?

Yeah, that was the night of. So I feel bad for the guy, but I guarantee he looks like an alien right now. I saw your video, I saw your interview with John Ang, and I was like, Justin looks like completely normal. Like you don't look like you just went through like one of the greatest fights in the history of the sport. Now, meanwhile, Michael, you know, definitely looks like it works for wear. But good Lord, man. You seriously went to a war.

You look, you look like you didn't even, you look like you just went for a jog. Oh, I know it looked like complete chaos, but I controlled every bit of that chaos. Other than about 60 seconds of round one, I was on point. You know, he didn't touch me a lot. After the first night, he didn't touch me, but at all, you know, body shots, but those don't count. Can't kill somebody with those. So those don't even count. But, yeah, he hit me three times, four times, once because of the refs.

But, yeah, dude, I was much better that night. I put out a tweet before the fight, and I remember talking to Dustin Porre after he fought you the first time. And I say the first time, because I feel like we are going to see that rematch. And he said, fighting Justin Gachie is like getting into a car crash. You just don't walk out of there unscathed. Like even if you win a fight, you don't walk out of there unscathed. And seeing what Michael Chandler looked like afterwards,

I was like, that might be the best description I've ever heard about what it's like fighting you. It's like getting into a car crash. Yeah, I would say a mild to mid car crash. How, you know, I know going into the fight, you know, listen, you guys had a lot of respect for each other, but you don't know what's going to happen until you actually step in there. You don't know can a guy take your punches, can he survive? I mean, does your, I won't say your opinion change? Like, how much respect do you have for a guy like that after a war?

like after you share 15 minutes in the cage together, like, does that just change your opinion of him? Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I mean, for one, I understand what happened. And that dude made a choice, you know, so many people can learn from that instance. And, you know, the example of him making a choice and not accepting anything else. And that was his choice to make. and, you know, he did and he stuck to that choice. So that is, that is inspiring.

You know, not often do you walk out of there and my opponent inspires the world better than I? And he did that. And I'm so happy for him and that's getting recognition. Absolutely, absolutely. To that point, you know, you did land a lot of big shots on him. He absorbed a lot of damage. Were you shocked?

He actually stuck around to the final bell because when I made my prediction for this fight, Justin, I said, you know, listen, I think you guys both have knockout power. you guys are both, you know, tremendously tough, but I said if he plays into Justin's hand, I don't think he can make it, you know, two rounds. It's kind of the way I thought about this fight. Huge credit, man. He's stuck around, but were you shocked? He actually was able to take some of those punches? Uh, yeah. I mean, again, do you, if you understand what's happening, so this, his choice was to, um, to take everything. You know, when he got knocked out versus Charles

Olivera, in his mind, he was not aware of that danger at that time. And when you fight me, you are constantly aware, so you are constantly prepared and ready for that damage, you know, in that one moment that he got caught by Oliver, he just didn't understand the danger. And he, that was a mistake. And that's what you cannot do when you're fighting at this level. but, you know, against me, when you buy down and you and you accept force like that, then you can take it.

That's a choice, you know, and that's a choice that he constantly made, you know, and yeah, I got to give him credit for that. I mentioned, you know, talking about the video of, like, the stitches and kind of getting his face put back together, and I said, you know, seriously, you do look great. But in terms of, like, coming out of the fight, how are, how did you feel? Like, it seems like you're good to go, but, like, how are you feeling? Yeah, no, my leg is hurt. Those kicks that he landed in the first round were super effective.

Can't imagine being his leg. This is the first time I've ever actually been disinjured after a fight from leg kicks. I actually feel slightly bad for all my opponents because, yeah, I do this pretty consistently. And it is not a fun, fun feeling. Yeah, it's not at all. You've seen the outpouring about this fight. Every time you fight Justin, we kind of all have the same conversation. We know what we're getting into with the Justin Gachy fight.

We all appreciate you putting your body and soul in the line every time you step in there. But has the reaction to this one been any different better? Because, I mean, it seems like everyone is just like, we just witnessed not just one of the best fights of the year. This might be one of the greatest fights in the history of the sport. Yeah, I think it'll age greatly, you know. I think through time it'll become a better and a better fight. Yeah, it was a phenomenal performance by me, a phenomenal performance by Michael Chandler. You know, being in Madison Square Guarded, our first time back, my first time back in front of fans.

Yeah, I think, you know, it'll age so finely. I remember having a conversation with you after, I remember what fight it was, we talked, but you were talking about the change you made after the Porreux fight. You know, the things you did would work with Trevor Whitman, you know, in terms of your striking, in terms of, you know, how your output is going, all these different things. I'm not going to rehash that conversation, but do you feel like, you know, now,

like the animal you are now, you're still getting great, crazy, exciting fights out of you, but you are just a different, you're like Justin Gachy 3.0 right now. No, I think it's just finally just against you 1.0. I mean, it's, you know, like doing this and learning what we're doing, you know, is such a, it takes so much time to understand what is happening. So, yeah, I think I am confident that,

I'm now at a point to where I understand, you know, what skills I possess. I understand how I want to fight. And I think it was just all a learning process, you know. And I think that I've always had these skills. I think I've always been on the way to hear. But yeah, I think right now I am so fucking dangerous when I step in there. And, you know, it's nice to accept that I am one of the best in the world at this sport. So, yeah, that's cool.

It's cool to embrace it. Yeah. Now, at the end of the day, this is still an individual sport. You go out there and you fight for yourself. You go out there and get a big win. But does it make it that much sweeter that you were able to celebrate with Rose and Camaro at the end of the night? I mean, Trevor Whitman going 3-0, three fighters on the main card. All of you got huge wins.

I mean, does that make it that much sweeter when you get to celebrate with teammates? Yeah, I mean, it's everybody that watches this sport or understands this sport, you know, can put into perspective what we went through as a team. And yeah, dude, it was phenomenal. Most importantly is the recognition that my coach is getting. I remember in 2012, whenever we had a big team, you know, things kind of went sideways with the team. And me and one other person didn't leave with the team.

We stayed with Trevor. And I remember at that time, he was thinking about stopping and being done. and I remember telling him that he could not stop until I was done because he was my coach and I would not accept doing this without him. So, you know, going back to that time and now seeing where we're at, it's just all such a great experience. I love the recognition that he's getting. Absolutely.

And he deserves the coach of the year without a doubt in my mind and consider what you guys have done this year. Would that be a set? He's 5 and 0 in championship fights this year, 6 and 0 total. Again, I mean, yeah, got to be. thankful to God when it comes to that because when you take the fact of chance and luck, you know, and for us to still come out unscathed is, you know, astronomical numbers there. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Justin, the win, we know what it is. You get the bonus. I mean, this is, you know, this is old hat for you to get the bonus and all these kind of things. But we know what's next for you. You've now solidified yourself as the number one contender. I think if you would have gone out and won anyway, you would have been the number one contender.

But having a fight like that, you have now defined yourself as the number one contender. How does that feel? I mean, you're going out there, this was the purpose. I mean, beating Michael Chandler is a big deal, but the purpose was to get back to the title, right? Yeah. Oh, man, I feel great about that. You know, this was an opportunity to take some control of the situation.

And, yeah, a regular win would have not have done that. But there is no such thing as a regular win for me. There's only one way that's in spectacular fashion. So, yeah, I'm so happy that I went out there. I took control of the situation, and now I put the UFC in a spot where they would have to challenge the integrity of the sport to go any other way. And that's all I can do. That's all I control. And then, you know, because if that happens, then you guys, the media, the fans, they got to do what they got to do and question the integrity.

So that was my job. That's what I did. And now I had to dare them to challenge it. And I think I accomplished that. Do you feel like I know going into it? And I want to make it clear. You said this in several interviews and media day and things like this. Like, I know you had an issue with the way that Daniel Kormier kind of presented the title opportunity when he interviewed Islammachach.

But you said, and I want to make it clear, you said, I don't have any beef with D.C. I just didn't like the bias in that moment. Did you, I assume you saw after the fight, he's come out and said, you are the number one contender. You deserve the title shot. Islam should fight somebody else. Did you appreciate that he at least kind of went out on his shield and kind of gave you the credit you deserve? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, hey, it's got me in trouble many times in my life, but I consider myself a straight shooter. When I see something, I speak to it. You know, when I saw that happen that night, you know, I said what I thought, you know, and I was unhappy.

If D.C. was in my shoes and someone was trying to pass him up, take money off his table, take food away from his family, he would have said the same thing. So that's his friend, you know, and if you ain't, if you ain't doing shit for your friends, then I got respect for what he tried to do. But again, not even DC can challenge the fucking integrity of what I just did. Yeah, absolutely. So, of course, we know what's next for you. I'm just going to say, you're going to get the title shot. I know you've said many times, Charles Oliver, Dustin Porre, doesn't matter as long as the

title's on the line. I know the Dustin Porrier fight would mean a little bit more to you, because it would be a rematch, a chance to avenge a past loss. But let me ask you, when you look at that fight, I think I remember hearing you saying you lean, Porriere, winning the fight, but kind of give me your thought, now that you know that you're going to get the winner, do you still believe Dustin's probably going to be the guy to walk out with the win?

Yeah, you know, I don't, I don't know. I really don't know. I mean, I hope Olivera wins. A part of me thinks, after I fought Dustin Porre, I went outside, and I took 100, 200 pictures. and I felt great, you know. Not one thought or emotion from that fight, am I scared to experience again?

I know for a fact that when Dustin Porre has to step in there with me again, he is going to remember and constantly be analyzing that night. He was not out taking pictures. He was probably in the most pain of his fucking life. and if he doesn't land a shot in the first round, he knows he's going to have to go through that again. If he beats Charles Olivera, I don't know if he fights me.

I think he just walks away, calls it good. So I kind of hope Charles Olivera wins so that it's, I get to fight him, you know, March, April, May. If Dustin Porre wins, I'm going to have to really entice him

to fucking get in there again. It's funny you say that. I mentioned earlier when, when Dustin told me that, after your fight, that's what it was. He's like, I felt like I went through a car crash. Like, he's literally, I can't walk. He couldn't stand up.

I mean, that's what he felt like after fighting you the first time. Yeah, now he gets to fight a more refined and a more sophisticated psychopath. So, can't. Let me ask you about the Charles Olivera fight because that would be a new one. And again, I don't want to get ahead of myself because, again, he's still got to get through Dust Supporty. But how do you feel you match up with Charles? How much intrigue do you have in a fight against Charles Olivera?

I am so interested in that fight. I will never take back what I've said about him until he gets in there and does what Michael Tanner does and fucking proves me wrong. There is no dog meaner or bigger than me in that cage. And his skills are fucking phenomenal, but there's no dog in that man. And I will constantly and consistently say that.

And when I get a chance, I know for a fact I will show you everybody that. Absolutely. And again, the end of the day, let's be clear, it doesn't matter to you, right? Title on the line. It doesn't matter if it's Charles, if it's Dustin, if it's whoever, you just want the title. Absolutely. That's it. That's all it matters. Charles, Dustin, does not matter. They're both, they're both so intriguing, you know. They both fired me up. Believe me, I'll be waking up, fired up, working until then. Yeah. You mentioned there's a, there's a party that believes maybe you know, Dustin wins, maybe he walks away, he doesn't want to do that rematch.

Do you believe in your heart of hearts, though, that, you know, the way the first fight went, and it was close. I mean, it was a battle until the very end. Do you believe a rematch would be that much different in terms of what you would do to him different than what he did to you the last time? I think a rematch would be a completely different instance in time. I think the previous fight would have zero. factors on what would occur on that night.

I think it would be a fresh experience, and I think it would be, again, a battle for the ages because, but again, I, you know, I don't know if I can get the dog from him anymore. You know, if he steps in there, I know for a fact the dog's coming, but I don't know if I can get him to step in there. And that's my heart of heart.

That's what I truly believe. would that's uh i mean i don't know is that is that a real concern i mean really you think you think he might not even want to take the fight that is a that's not a concern doesn't affect me one way or another either way if that happens i still get the fight for the belt doesn't matter yeah uh the other guy in this and he's not this he's not in this scenario but a guy that was talked about the last couple weeks because of the whole dc thing do you look forward to the day of matching yourself up against the guy like Islam Makachov? Of course.

Yeah, I'll let him go first if he gets his spot. I'll be one of these guys and then I'll allow him to go first. So, fuck yeah, I'm looking forward to that. I love it. War's coming. You won't know one thing, fucking war is coming. So bring it. I love it.

You know, it's funny. I was talking about the John Annik interview. I know that in your down time, you are a huge golfer. The intensity you bring to the cage is like, unlike any, anything I've ever seen before in the sport. I've been covering the sport for 20 years. What is Justin Gatchy like on the golf on the golf course? Is there any,

is that same intensity match in a different way? Yeah, fuck, I'm old now, so I'm not competitive every fucking day of my life. But yeah, I make sure I'm betting somebody money so that I can take something from somebody. I love it. Justin, congratulations again on the win, man. Enjoy it. I know you're already kind of thinking about what comes next. Can I imagine, and I know I'm sure it's not done yet,

but can I imagine you want to be Cajside for Porre and Olivaire in December? Fuck, I'm a quarter mile out of time guy. Yeah, that sounds fun. I love fighting. I love watching fights. I love being in the atmosphere and the environment. So, yeah, I'm sure it's probably a 50% chance I'll be there. Yeah, I love it.

Well, Justin, enjoy the win, man. Congratulations again. You know, words cannot describe the fight you just put on. So thank you. I honestly mean that. Thank you for allowing us to witness that fight. Thank you for the time as always, man. And hopefully next time we chat,

it's when you got the title fight booked and we were talking about Justin Gagy going for that lightweight championship. Yeah, what a fun time that will be in life, my friend. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.