Justin Gaethje saves UFC 249 by officially taking on the fight with vs Tony Ferguson. We finally have the main event! But what made Gaethje take this fight on such short notice?

Justin Gaethje wasn’t the original choice for the main event at UFC 249. Initially, it was supposed to be Tony Ferguson vs Khabib Nurmagomedov. But due to the global pandemic and Russia imposing travel bans, Khabib will be unable to make it. So to save the day stepped in Justin Gaethje, who will now faceTony Ferguson for the interim title.

Justin Gaethje in conversation with Brett Okamoto of ESPN opened up about what was it that made him take this fight.

Gaethje said, “ It was 11 pm last Friday night. They called me and said would you like to. So I called my coach. But my coach was like you don’t take late replacement fights. And I was like you’re right.” Clearly, Gaethje’s coach wasn’t interested. So what changed his mind?

He elaborated on the decision-making process and said, “I said let’s sleep on it. The next day I woke up and I was like where are we at if I lose? And for me, it’s the same exact spot.” Gaethje sees a probable silver lining to this fight that his coach missed. If Gaethje wins, he will be crowned the interim champ. But if he loses, it doesn’t affect his position. So why not!

Justin Gaethje predicts the fight

Justin Gaethje is quite realistic about his chances in this fight. He said he won’t be at his absolute best due to the short notice. But he will enter the octagon at about “95 percent”. He knows a match up with Tony won’t come his way this easily ever again. So he seized the opportunity while he could.

Gaethje has also predicted the fight won’t last the entire 5 rounds. One of them will win by the 3rd round. He knows Tony Ferguson and says they are very similar when it comes to mental warfare. They are capable of tapping into those dark spaces. This will be a fun contest to watch.

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April 18th, UFC 249! Who do you think will take this Interim title home?