The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - MMA Hangout: Special Interview With Justin Gaethje

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

Justin Gaethje joins Tony on the MMA Hangout and opens up about the crazy week before and after the incredible UFC 300 card and his fight with Max Holloway. Check out Justin's Rise & Grind episode on OFTV: https://of.tv/video/66195cf42c28650001eb0cf2/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Please drink responsibly. On with the one and only, the legend himself, the highlight, Justin Gaethje. Justin, bro, first off, I told you before we recording, you're a dog. You're a warrior. You went out there and fought Max in one of the best fights that we've seen. And I don't even know how long. of the year in my opinion how do you feel off of that 300 the totality of it right the lead up the camp the walkout the fight the knockout can you put into perspective for us yeah I mean it's just it all goes by so fast man I mean you

start training camp 12 weeks out you know you, you work your ass off, you know, two or three times a day, two or three workouts, you know, everything's kind of super regimented. So you know, you really just show up and you know, follow instructions, you know, I'm super coachable. So everything went by really fast. And then, you know, once fight week comes, that Tuesday starts, it really flies by. And then you got the press conference, then you move on to the weigh-ins, you know, what fight we come that Tuesday starts, it really flies by. And you got the press conference, then you move on to the weigh-ins, you know, all the interviews I did, probably, you know, 80 interviews.

So all that just, you know, just the busier you are, you know, the faster, faster time goes, as you guys know. And so before you know it, you know, the fights there and then, you know, slides by again, then the fights over. And then it's just crazy how, you know, it's really, really hard to take in everything, you know, in the moment, you know, because everything's just flying by, you're, you're kind of on autopilot during all the, all the media events. You know, you're an autopilot during the wake up because you don't want to think

about that because that shit hurts. And then, um, you know, you move to the fight and just try to be perfect for, you know, for a very, very small period of time, you know, in the grand scheme of things. And you know, competition is crazy. I'm super competitive. You know, I don't have, there was never a second in there. I wasn't, you know, excited to be in there. And it's a momentum thing, you know, I caught that kick at the end of the first round, you know, broke my nose and, you know, momentum's a hell of a thing to try to get back, you know,

once you lose it. And, you know, I think Max did such a good job at, you know, gaining that momentum and then keeping that, you know, through the fight. Again, it's such a short, you know through the fight. Again it's such a short you know short period in time you know and 25 minutes and I just couldn't get it back you know and he was really good he was surprised me in a couple areas you know how patient he was I thought I was going to be able to pull him into a pull him into more of a fight and his patience really really threw things off of me and you know all credit to him for for executing like that. It was incredible to see man because obviously moving up a division you were talking with with Kamaru obviously a great friend of yours training partner on his pod with with Triple C that you were like I hope that

he's a little bit slower right the move up maybe he's a little bit slower did you see him a little bit slower did you feel like you could have attacked things in a certain way that he just maybe cut off a little bit quicker? I mean, yeah, his movement was very, very good, man. And something I wasn't expecting. I think, you know, it was definitely not slow. He was really fast. And yeah, I mean, again, it was just, you know, me expecting something and getting something completely different was, you know, such a testament to his game plan. You know, it was awesome. And yeah, you know, waiting outside and, you know, trying to catch him coming in was kind of, you know, what I thought was going to be going on more in my mind.

And he really sat back and, you didn't didn't get pulled into anything you know he was really fast on his exits and he was very fast when he closed you know closed the distance to those strikes and you were chopping that leg too dude like I said it he said he's gonna be like a couple weeks before I can even walk normally you were checking a front leg I mean you try and get in to switch stances, right? Yeah, switch stances, change tactics. I think in the fourth round, after the third round of my coach, we have a couple, we all have different styles of fighting that we fight in training. We train different styles. There's a patient side for me and then there's a spot where I move forward and I really try to step on their feet and cause you know cause exchanges and I think once we

switched to that you know I started you know finding more success just it was just a good a testament to his game plan because something that none of us were ready for and it was good damn good, when you, when you replay that first round, have you seen the fight in its totality? No, I haven't watched it. No. Okay. I was going to say, can you, can you run us through at least what you remember from that first round? Cause I feel like things change after that. That's that kick, right?

The kick. Even before that he landed a good uppercut, you know, and, you know, gave me a little buzz and, you know, just how fast he closed the distance from A to B was very impressive. So I was like, oh shit, you know, it's something I got to watch out for, something I got to be ready for. When he, when he landed that kick, it was like, did you sit in the corner and be like, that was clean as hell?

I mean, we're talking about 60 seconds in time. I mean, he kicked me, you know, I walked there, I noticed that I'm bleeding like profusely, you know, coach walks up. The crazy thing was the last one second, neither one of my coaches that were coming into the cage saw it happen. Oh my God. Because they were working their way into the cage. You know, they got to get their shit together, get their bucket together, get the ice together. And so they didn't see it happen, coach. I sat down and coach like, what the hell happened? You broke your nose. You're like what?

Yeah, and I was feeling my nose. I was trying to see how crooked it was, you know, and that's the first time I ever broke my nose in a fight. So yeah, it was, again, 60 seconds in time. It wasn't a lot of processing information. It was just like, oh shit, that hurt. And yeah, it is what it is. You know, and then it goes out of your mind

and just have to go back to the task at hand, which is fighting the dude in front of you, trying to win. Did you feel like that changed your cardio at all, not being able to breathe in the way that you normally breathe or no? I don't think it did. I mean, I felt really good in there. You know, I felt amazing in there. We worked so hard, you know, through this whole camp to be ready for

a cardiovascular cardiovascular war. And us both fighting, again, he was much more patient than I thought he was going to be. That allowed me to not get as exhausted early on. Until the fifth round, I remember being like, well, I'm in really good shape. And every fight is so different. And yeah, this one was very different than something, again,

I expected and something I've ever experienced. So it's it's crazy. You know, it was a crazy game that we play. And look, like I said, you're you've taken shots from the best fighters on the planet. And Kamaru mentioned, hey, if he doesn't get poked in the eyes, maybe we have something different. Do you feel like there's some, some credibility to that? Or is that just like, we're playing Monday morning quarterback. Yeah, I got poked in the eyes, but I'm a fighter. Like, let's keep moving. Yeah. Uh, I don't, you know, I, I don't like to,

you know, that can be an excuse if I was to just try to justify that. Um, you really, you know, you really don't know. Again, it's 25 minutes in time. I mean, it's been hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands of minutes since that day. And it seems like it was just yesterday. So it's just crazy you get in there, you gotta, you know, it's a little bit of rolling the dice,

a lot of preparation, and then you just kinda gotta be perfect and not get caught up in the moment, not lot of preparation. And then you just kind of got to kind of got to be perfect and you know, not get caught up in the moment, not be too relaxed. I mean, it's such a crazy game and you know, the things that your body does when you're in those situations, I mean, you know, to to release adrenaline into your body, you know, you got to obviously perceive a dangerous situation. And you know, that it was that and then your body goes to these special places. You know, I've done it so many times.

I think if I made a mistake, I think the biggest mistake was not realizing or understanding through the camp how much danger I was in. You know, I don't know, I don't know why. You know, obviously I know why now. I know that was a mistake now, but you know, I think it was more difficult for my body to go to like a primal state because of my lack of awareness of the danger that my body was in. You know, that's not that I didn't give Max respect. I think it was more, if I had to put a finger on it, I think it was more the fact that I never in my life saw Max as an opponent that I would potentially fight. He was always in a different weight class. I

never was like, this is the guy I want to fight. There's never been another fight in my career where I've been like, you know, I didn't expect to fight this guy or, you know, I or I have too much respect for this guy or, you know, I just it's not that I didn't want to hurt him. I was willing to hurt him. But you know, the lead up was very different because it wasn't a guy that, you know, even Donald Cernoni was my friend back in the day. But he knocked me down, knocked me out in a practice in like

2010. So I was like, I want to get that back. You know, the competitor of me wants to get that back. You know, there was nothing, there was that fire wasn't there. And I think that was probably the biggest mistake that I made, you know, going into this fight. It's something that I, that I'm going to learn from. But again, you know, all credit to Max for, for the way that he fought. I think he fought so perfect. I think when you have two BMFs in one ring, I think that's what makes the BMF special, right? Obviously you fought in the, the, the fight twice, obviously the first one with Dustin and this one now.

And it's like, it's such a cool thing to see because when everybody said, Oh, it's a gimmick. Oh, it's this and that. It's like, guys, this is fighting. These are two of the biggest dogs on the planet going at it from each fight down, right? Like George and Nate you and Dustin you and Max like this is just dogs only so it's like Yeah, it's such a cool thing to see where you surprised when at the end of the fight when Max was like, alright Come on, let's go middle the octagon me and you right now last 10 seconds. How surprised were you? Do you think like oh, wait a second, what is he doing? Do I have a shot here?

No, I mean, when that happens, you know, in my mind, just first thing that goes off is of course, you know, and I ran, you know, I did, I tried to, the little flip kick and then, you know, he points, I jogged to that center. You know, that luckily, we said it many times before this was going to be the People's Way event. I said it was going to be the best live show on earth and it was just that because it's two guys that are just absolute competitors. I'm a competitor, he's a competitor and we've

been doing this for so long and I just think there's no other option I mean someone points to the ground like that you know there's no way that I'm not gonna accept that challenge absolutely and it could it could have easily been him that's the funny thing you land something clean he's out the entire fight is different the entire night is different everything is different about that yeah like I said I haven't why I mean you know I felt like I was losing, you know, but you just never know. I think, I think obviously I won, I think I won the fourth round and I think the second round was, you know, was close. You know, I landed some very, very heavy leg kicks. So you never know. I think

he was probably up three, one on the judge's scorecards. It could have been two, two, you know, on a, on a conservative judge, judge's scorecard. And so we were both kind of fighting for everything. I don't think, in that moment, you never think what the scorecards are. Especially when he points to the ground like that. Okay, that's the only way one of us wanna win. We wanna figure this out. You don't wanna let it go to the judges.

Just in case. We've seen some crazy things, whether I was winning,, you know had no chance You know, it was 2-2 with that with that with that round being a deciding factor You don't know, you know, you know, you don't take the time to to think about that because that shit does not matter You know until that fight is over and it's like, okay, let's hope that this is this is correct We both want to finish the same way and that's by making a statement and leaving it completely out of the anybody's hands but our own. Yeah, absolutely.

That's what the BMF is about. Who's the baddest mother we're going to figure out the last 10 seconds who the baddest motherfuckers are going to point to the middle of the ring and we're going to throw haymakers and cinder blocks until somebody goes down. So it was like we both told you guys what you were going to get. I think it was the best, best fight of the night, obviously. And yeah, it's bound to happen when you put two guys like that in the cage. Um, how do you protect your mental health when it comes to something like that?

Where obviously you haven't seen the fight, but I'm sure social is just absolutely crazy. Are you in a space mentally where you look at that and be like, ah, like that shit, I have to turn it off for a little bit. Or are you one of those guys that can kind you look at that and be like, oh, like that shit, I have to turn it off for a little bit. Or are you one of those guys that can kind of look at everything and be like, Hey, it is what it is. That's that's part of the sport. Shit happens.

Like, let's keep it moving. Yeah. I mean, you know, I, I've said it to, you know, my family thought my family was terrified to all the girls. And you know, I was at the hospital, you know, getting checked out, you know, and I was good, you know, again, being a competitor that I am, I'm not excited and I'm not happy that I lost, you know, but, you know, I have to, I have to be content with what happened because I'm not gonna let it eat me up.

I'm not gonna let it let me be negative to people around me, you know, and because what we did was, you know, legendary. Yeah, legendary. And I think, you know, again, I'm here to create a legacy. I think that, you know, even though I lost, I think that does good for my legacy and for the future of my legacy. But I've also am able to put into perspective that I've TKO'd or KO'd 19 people. And at the end of the day, this is the territory that I live in. I wish that I wouldn't have eaten that shot, but I do think that me going to sleep like that with one second left adds to the legendary status of that fight and and to to my aura that that I bring in to the you know to inspire people that's that's why I do do this obviously

and you know I if you guys notice I never ever once doubted myself or gave up and that's um that's the name of the game that's what I try to preach and I try to show that through my actions and you know I think that I try to take the positive things you know I have a lot of people you know my mom my girlfriend my sisters they're all trying to check in on me every day and I'm like guys I'm good like it is what it is I've been doing this my entire life you know I've lost big wrestling matches I've lost fights before it doesn't feel good but you you know, as long as I'm content with the preparation in the lead up to the fight, then I have to be okay with the outcome.

You know, I think I was prepared. I think that Max was better that night. And I think I play a crazy game where chance and luck are small factors. And you know's that's the way the cookie crumbled that night. You talk about legacy in one word what do you think your legacy will be? What do I think my legacy would be? You know I I I can't even say because I don't know what people see. I just hope that inspiring is what I hope that my legacy will be because you don't understand I came from the middle of nowhere. We all come from somewhere.

This is such a worldwide sport. So to be able to touch people and inspire people from across the world is the craziest thing to me being from where I'm from. And that's my favorite part about this whole thing. You know, I'm not, I know like in there I look mean, you know, I'm a nice person. I don't think you can find, I've interacted with a million, you know, with what I do now with through wrestling, through different sports, through fighting, I've interacted with millions of people and you're not going to find a handful that say that I'm not a

nice person. I try to treat people the correct way, the way I want to be treated and I think that you guys think that I might be mean, I love to help people and so the fact that I am inspiring people from across the world from different languages You know through my actions is the most most special part for me And something I never thought I would be able to do you know I thought maybe I would be able to be a Effective in my you know in my community, but you know my community is so big now You know with the age of the internet and you know with the stage that I'm fighting on so that's my favorite part

That's that's why you know I can come back and step in there next time with with no fear because you know that's that's what I'm trying to do is inspire people so we all we all face you know life is not easy we all face these different things mine's a fight mine's physical a lot of people's is metaphorical but you know at the end of day, you have to believe in yourself and you have to trust in the process, you know, and treating people the correct way, treating people the way you want to be treated, allows me to find comfort there, you know, and then so I have no reason to be negative or, you know, think about any of that bull crap. From the copper mines to the BMF title, man, like you've had.

You've had such a cool rise and and you're not done yet. Any any idea? I know this is super premature, super early. Any idea when the next time you could mentally be ready to get to get back into a training camp, into a fight? Again, we're talking about metaphorical and physical. Like metaphorically, I could be ready tomorrow, but... You know, physically, I think, again, I do want to... I want to take care of myself.

You know, I do think that repeated concussions, you know, with me going to sleep like that, me receiving that shot, it would be foolish for me to jump back into training, you know, anytime before 180 days. that, me receiving that shot, it would be foolish for me to jump back into training, you know, anytime before 180 days. Yeah. I could do cardio, I could stay in shape. That's what I want to try to do, especially the older I get, the harder it is to get back to the best shape of my life. So I want to stay active, you know, but obviously that physical contact is going to be limited for quite some time just because I want to preserve myself. I've been doing this for a long time. So yeah, I don't have an answer for that question. I think

six months at least is before I get back to taking shots, but that doesn't say that I won't be training the whole time. So we'll see. It'll see. Um, it's a crazy game. See how the Dustin Dustin and Mock Chef fight goes. Yeah. Crazy game. Um, dude, thank you so much. Before we get out of here, talk to me and we'll probably see a lot of your cardio, a lot of your workout stuff on your OFTV rising grind stuff.

Can you talk to us a little bit about it? Get us excited about what you got behind the scenes. Yeah. I mean, um, you know, we just got through a fight. So obviously a lot of the training, you know, is going to be a lot different now. You know, a lot more golf, a lot more video games, a lot more. Yeah. One more show. So, um, we have only fans to be, you know, we're going to get back to making,

um, you know, contact with my coach. You know, we used to make these, um, curriculum, you mean, OnlyFansTV, again, we're gonna get back to making contact with my coach. We used to make these curriculum videos. I think we have our whole shop set up as a studio now, so we're able to film these technique videos and then really just try and spread knowledge on, my coach possesses so much knowledge, my ability to put it into action and to make it look, you know, we all learn different ways, you know, visual,

you know, reading, I don't know. I'm a visual learner, you know, I have to see it. And so I want to put it on video, show people how to, you know, get a good workout. You know, I think fighting and training for a fight, even though you're not fighting, it's such a good, you know, cardiovascular workout,'re not fighting, it's such a good cardiovascular workout, puts you in such a positive mental state, gives you confidence, which is huge,

one of the biggest factors in life, having the confidence to attack these situations. And so yeah, I want to put stuff like that on there and then just different ways to communicate with fans. I've got so much love after this fight. Win or lose, it's crazy how much love I've gotten after this fight. And so yeah, OnlyFans is just another way for me to interact with my fans, bring them some content

on things some people do wanna learn how to fight so I can give them that. But then just interacting with my fans. It's huge and OnlyFans is a great give them that. But then just interacting with my fans, you know. It's huge. And OnlyFans is a great outlet for that. Check out Justin Gaethje's OnlyFans Rising Grind episode with the highlight himself teaching you everything. Hopefully get some good golf stuff in there too. I'm going to be watching for some good golf content. Justin, you're a legend, dude. You're a dog. You're a warrior. We appreciate you as media, as fans, as people, just in general,

from, again, copper mines to the top of the world in what it is that you do. It's just an incredible story, man. We appreciate you. We love you. Thank you so much for hanging out, man. All right. Yes, sir. Thank you for your time.