“Started to fight more intelligently,” Justin Gaethje’s coach reveals losing to Dustin Poirier altered his fighting strategy

Justin Gaethje reveals how he changed his fighting style after losing to Dustin Poirier in their first meeting.

“Started to fight more intelligently,” Justin Gaethje’s coach reveals losing to Dustin Poirier altered his fighting strategy

Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier (Image Courtesy: MMA Junkie)

Justin Gaethje gives a detailed explanation of how he changed his game plan in order to get better. Gaethje is well known for his brutal fighting style which can come off as a little reckless and he gets hit way too often in those exchanges. 

While talking about that in a new UFC interview, Gaethje mentioned how he started fighting like that. According to the fighter during his early days, he never thought about using tactics while fighting and relied on hard punches. It was working until he lost two consecutive fights against Eddie Alvarez and especially Dustin Poirier which prompted him to be more cautious.

https://youtu.be/XnQT-15D8Fc

He said: “I started fighting while I was wrestling in college. The word tactical wasn’t in my vocabulary back in those days. I was positive that was the way I was supposed to fight. So, I knew I was gonna keep going…I fought Dustin Poirier and he beat that guy.” 

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Gaethje’s head coach also explained how together they started fighting efficiently in order to win.“We started to fight more intelligently, not just go out there and just throw heat and expect your chin to stand up.”  According to Justin’s coach, the fighter changed his persona from being the ‘Highlight’ of UFC to becoming the future interim lightweight champion of the world.

Related: Has KO artist Justin Gaethje ever submitted anyone in his MMA career?

Justin Gaethje aims to prove Islam Makhachev is not the next Khabib Nurmagomedov

Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje (Image Courtesy: TalkSport)
Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje (Image Courtesy: TalkSport)

Makhachev is widely considered the prodigy of Khabib Nurmagomedov given their shared childhood and fighting style. After Nurmagomedov’s retirement, it was Islam who challenged Charles Oliveira and became the new lightweight champion.

However, Justin Gaethje doesn’t think Makhachev is on the same level as Nurmagomedov. In a recent interview, Gaethje mentioned that Alexander Volkanovski is a possible threat to Makhachev and he would like to fight the Dagestani himself to prove the point.

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He said: “If we’re going off of what we know then it’s gonna be [Alexander] Volkanovski because he already fought him and it was a really close fight. I’ve never fought him, Poirier’s never fought him. I think Volkanovski is the answer for now, but I can’t wait to get in there. I know for a fact he’s not Khabib and I want to go in there and prove that.” Gaethje has always been vocal about avenging his past losses and beating Makhachev would be a great step towards it.

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