UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje had a significantly different take than most fans while he fought Michael Chandler at UFC 268.
In the promotion’s return to Madison Square Garden last November, a host of moments took the roof off the iconic arena and had fans across the world stuck to their TV sets.
From Chris Barnett’s spinning wheel kick, Ian Garry’s McGregor-esque debut knockout, and Alex Pereira’s memorable flying knee KO, to Rose Namajunas and Kamaru Usman’s successful title defenses, the event certainly didn’t disappoint.
But the one fight that left everybody talking was the clash of lightweight contenders between Gaethje and Chandler. Leaving everything in the cage, both men swung hard and put their bodies on the line. After 15 minutes, Gaethje walked away with the unanimous decision verdict, but both played their part in what was the consensus fight of the year bout.
Gaethje Had A Different View During The Fight
Whether it was FOTY or not, everybody has and continues to recognize the incredible contest. But one man had a different version of events at the time, that man being one half of the memorable clash.
During a recent interview with BT Sport while in attendance at UFC 270 last weekend, Gaethje incredibly claimed he thought the fight was “boring” while he was inside the Octagon. “The Highlight” said he didn’t like it because the main card opener represented a rare moment where he favored securing the victory over putting “Iron” to sleep.
“To be completely honest with you, I felt like that was kind of a boring fight when I was in there,” said Gaethje. “Yeah, it just makes no sense. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to win more than to knock somebody out. So, yeah, it was not good, I didn’t like it. I wanna go back to just wanting to hurt somebody and finish them. But, now that I’ve won, I got my title shot, I can go back to how it should be.”
Thrilling, exhilarating, exciting, enthralling, memorable, crazy, and a host of other adjectives have been used to describe UFC’s 268’s Fight of the Night. But I guess we now have to add… boring to it? I’m okay leaving that out if you are.
How would you describe Justin Gaethje’s barnburner with Michael Chandler at UFC 268?
