After Ilia Topuria heard Justin Gaethje’s father call the UFC lightweight champion a “little short guy,” the champ responded to Gaethje and his family to make clear the risks of underestimating him ahead of their clash at UFC Freedom 250.
Gaethje’s father, John Ray Gaethje, was shown in a recent “Art of Violence” video posted to Gaethje’s YouTube channel.
“This is the biggest fight of his life, but we’ve said that three or four other times,” John Ray said. “He’s fighting another little short guy, and he’s done really well against [Michael] Chandler and [Rafael] Fiziev, and a few others. I just see the same thing happening for this fight. This is what we trained for. This is what he put his whole life into since he was four years old. I’m excited and ready for it to happen.”
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Gaethje, who grabbed the interim lightweight title with a dominant decision win over Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 in January, stands 5-foot-11. That does represent a significant height advantage over the 5-foot-7 Topuria.
As mentioned by the elder Gaethje, the interim champ has had success against Fiziev (5-foot-7) and Chandler (5-foot-8), but Topuria has proven himself more than capable at both featherweight and lightweight.
Among Topuria’s wins are victories over Jai Herbert, Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway, who are all around Gaethje’s height or taller.
Topuria responded to Gaethjer’s father’s comments with a message on X.
“Fathers hope. Champions know,” Topuria wrote. “I’ve heard this story before: bigger men, stronger men, better men. Men who said I was just a small guy who was about to get a lesson in humility. They all learned the truth the same way. Your son already knows who I am. On June 14th, you will too. 18-0 PAPA.”
