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WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Justin Gaethje strikes Ilia Topuria of Spain in the UFC lightweight championship fight during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House on June 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
We may have to coin a new scientific theory to explain just how badly Justin Gaethje beat up Ilia Topuria.
Gaethje shocked the world on Sunday night by surviving a torrent of damage from Topuria and dishing out even more, forcing Topuria’s corner to throw in the towel after round four. Despite all the strikes Gaethje took, he walked out of the cage seemingly unscathed. Topuria looked like he’d gone through a meat grinder and was rushed to a hospital.
Topuria actually landed more significant strikes than Gaethje, 97 to 91. But it was “El Matador” who left with two broken orbitals, and Gaethje credited that to what we’re now going to call his Theory of Direct Energy Lines.
“One word describes it all, and it’s timing,” Gaethje explained on the Pat McAfee Show. “And the more you watch the sport, the more you can maybe grasp the concept of that. Not just creating angles, but sending direct lines of energy through in straight lines through their body and through their face. “
“When you see my face and it’s not messed up, you’re like, ‘Oh, something’s wrong with the skin.’ It’s really not that. If you watch frame by frame, I am constantly dissipating the energy that he’s trying to send in straight lines, and they’re all coming off and glancing off of my body, and that is the timing that I have.”
“When I can lock in and be cerebral, and I’m in danger, then my body does crazy things,” Gaethje continued. “And I’m able to be so technical and intuitive and cerebral with my actions. It’s happening so fast. We’re like computers processing code. And if you’re constantly making adjustments — I was able to reset his feet every one to two seconds. I was very diligent about it, and I fought a perfect fight. And he was completely caught off guard. He was not expecting it.”
“That obviously is another part of this whole game, the expectations. I’ve said it many times. I don’t go in with the expectations so that way I can never be surprised. That’s just the way I compete. And he took the opposite approach, and I said it before, when we go to two [rounds], when we go to three, you’re gonna be in hell, and that’s where he was.”
Now the big question is if we’re ever going to see Justin Gaethje fight again. “The Highlight” made it clear coming into the UFC White House event that he’d retire with a loss. He even said he might retire if he won, and there’d be no better time to walk away on top. Fortunately for those who love to see Justin compete, he’s talking more about a timeline for return than if he’ll return at all.
“I already fought twice this year, and very rarely do you get me twice in one year,” he said of a potential next fight. “So there’s a very, very, very small chance that I would ever consider fighting this year again. [After] what I put myself through.”
Asked directly if he’d retire, Gaethje didn’t quite say no but certainly didn’t sound like someone ready to leave.
“My spirit will never retire, boys,” he said with a big laugh. “I created that on Sunday.”
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