AB Chronicle

"Imagine how disrespectful he would've been if he beat me."
Justin Gaethje on what it would've looked like if Ilia Topuria had won — and why he wasn't going to let that happen.
He fought for more than the belt that night. He fought to shut down a persona.

Justin Gaethje tapped 3 times against Khabib. The referee told him he didn't.
Think about that for a second.
Gaethje is out. Unconscious. Khabib's hand gets raised. After the fight, Gaethje walks up to the ref and says "Dude, I tapped."
The ref looks him dead in the eye and says: "No, you would never tap."
Not once. Not twice. The guy argued with him about it.
Gaethje had to keep repeating it: "I tapped three times. I went to sleep."
Because somewhere along the way, people decided Justin Gaethje was too tough to ever give up — even when his own safety depended on it.
His response to people who couldn't believe he tapped? "When your life is ending, you're a fool if you don't understand that."
This is one of the wildest moments from the new JRE MMA Show with Gaethje and his coach Trevor Wittman. Full episode is 🔥 from start to finish.
Would you have tapped? 👇

Justin Explains Why Ilia Lost

Justin Gaethje Confesses What Went Wrong

Ilia Topuria doesn't believe in legends.

He believes in beating them.

This is the mindset that turned one of the UFC's most confident fighters into a champion.

Nobody carried the UFC like Conor McGregor.

And maybe nobody ever will.