Justin Gaethje Critiques Ilia Topuria's Gimmicks and Divorce Before UFC White House Fight

Topuria doubled down on social media, sharing more images on Instagram of behind-the-scenes footage of the promo shoot. 

The images depict him placing the white rose in front of Gaethje’s picture as well as framed pictures of Topuria’s past opponents he has knocked out: Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira.

Gaethje’s Response 

“The Highlight” was not impressed by Topuria’s creative showmanship and did not hold back in his response.

"All that guy is is a gimmick. He calls himself the king. He thinks he's a God. What an annoying little ba—,” Gaethje remarked. “I couldn't imagine being in a room with him for 30 minutes listening to him talk about himself.”

Gaethje also made their upcoming fight a touch more personal, bringing up Topuria’s divorce with ex-wife Giorgina Uzcategui.

He bluntly stated, “All I can say is this. I would leave him. That's all I'm saying. No way I would put up with his s—."

Gaethje admitted, “Yeah, look, I was young and dumb once, too, and up until this point, it’s served him well. People see the way he talks, and they believe it because he believes it. Which is amazing, really.”

Gaethje, however, is looking forward to serving Topuria a slice of humble pie, similar to how he humbled Paddy Pimblett in their interim lightweight bout.

“It was similar with Paddy Pimblett. He was so full of himself,” Gaethje recalled. “And it can be so detrimental to approach life that way. Thinking you’re better than everybody else.”

Gaethje’s Preparation

Though they kept their game plan to deal with Topuria specifically close to their chest, Gaethje and his coach, Trevor Wittman, gave some insight into their unique approach to fighting in an outdoor venue.

In an episode of “The Art of Violence,” a web docuseries on Justin Gaethje’s YouTube channel, Wittman revealed the coaching staff’s process for conditioning Gaethje:

Wittman stated, “We’re going to be fighting outdoors. We’re out there in Washington, D.C., and it’s super humid. I’ve been out there a lot, and in the summers it gets really hot.”

These same concerns were brought up by UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan. Wittman, however, reveals that his team is preparing Gaethje for those conditions.

“We started off by putting him into the sauna prior to his workouts,” Wittman continued. “Now we’re getting his heart rate up prior to going into the sauna. So we’re splitting the first part of the workout so that he’s going into the sauna with a higher heart rate.”

Wittman also revealed that Gaethje’s workout, for that day, contained multiple circuit training stations that involved “push, pull, endurance, explosion, fast-twitch, and a little bit of active rest.”

“Then, when he comes out, he’s dealing with these hard workouts with the feeling of heatstroke. [We’re] just training his body to kind of deal with it and deal with the climate that we’re going to be in... he just plowed through it today and Justin Gaethje’s in shape.”

Gaethje told the same thing to Fox Sports Australia.

“A lot of my workouts have been designed around fighting outside,” he said in his interview. “Today, for example, I had 10 minutes of jump rope, then did 15 minutes of sauna— got my body heat real high before I went and did my seven rounds of hard work. That way, I’m starting workouts with a high body temperature.”

“We’re expecting humidity, but who knows? There is a cold front coming next week, but that could also bring rain, so maybe the humidity [come fight night] is higher. I have no idea what to expect.”

“No matter what the variables are in there, [Topuria will] have to face the same things that I do.”