The UFC’s remarkable event at the White House produced a number of memorable moments, but amid all of the pomp and circumstance, there’s a chance we may also have witnessed the final chapter in the fighting career of Justin Gaethje as he captured the undisputed lightweight title in remarkable fashion on the South Lawn.
Gaethje was a huge underdog heading into his main event title fight with Ilia Topuria, but he lived up his moniker of “The Highlight” with a quite brilliant performance as he weathered some vicious early punishment from the defending champion before eventually turning the tables and breaking him in the later rounds.
Gaethje’s hard-nosed performance should have come as no surprise – after all, that’s how he’s fought throughout his career – but to do what he did against someone like Topuria, who demolished Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira in successive title fights, was something few saw coming.
Now Gaethje has completed the set, with the undisputed title joining his interim belt and the BMF title on his honors list, the big question now is whether he’ll decide to fight on. In terms of career acheievement, there really isn’t much else for him left to do.
Moving up to welterweight for another title seems unrealistic given the already-crowded title picture at 170 pounds, while at 155, he’s already faced a who’s who of the division. And let’s be honest, defeating a pound-for-pound superstar by stoppage for the undisputed title at the White House is going to take some beating.
He’s given so much of himself already for the fans through his wars inside the cage, I don’t think anyone would begrudge Gaethje if he opted to call it a career. Indeed, if that was the last time we see Gaethje inside the Octagon, then what a way to bow out.
The Suga Show is back
Sean O’Malley’s back-to-back defeats to Merab Dvalishvili saw his momentum take a major hit as he lost the bantamweight title, then got finished in his attempts to reclaim it. But at the White House, we saw the return of “The Suga Show” as O’Malley looked back to his best against Canadian contender Aiemann Zahabi.
After his walk-off finish, complete with a celebratory salute, O’Malley said that he wants his next fight to be against Petr Yan for the UFC bantamweight title. He’s already beaten Yan before, and he’ll be confident of repeating the feat if he gets a title shot.
There are other bantamweights in that title conversation, however, so it remains to be seen whether his White House performance, and his own innate star power, will be enough to force him to the front of the queue.
The UFC’s production team crushed it
From a production and presentation standpoint, the event looked phenomenal. From the timing of the flypast during The Zac Brown Band’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” to the (surely Emmy-worthy) tracking shot of Justin Gaethje walking past the portraits of all of the past United States Presidents, the whole show looked spectacular.
The live military band that played each of the fighters’ walkout songs live as they made the long walk from the White House to the Octagon also deserve a special mention. They were outstanding, and gave the fighter walkouts an even more unique, special feeling.
With the production on point and the visuals spectacular, it meant the stage was perfectly set for the fighters, and each one of the seven bouts on the card delivered.
