There’s been no love lost between Justin Gaethje and James Vick in the build-up to UFC Lincoln, something Gaethje reiterated during Thursday’s media day.
Lincoln, NB — “I don’t admire anything about his fighting style,” Justin Gaethje told reporters at Thursday’s UFC Lincoln media day in regards to James Vick, and what he brings to the cage. And so the feud continues. Gaethje and Vick have plenty of bad blood between them, which has turned the UFC Fight Night 135 main event on Saturday into must-see TV. Well, to be honest, Gaethje is always must-see TV. Still, the grudge match nature of the pairing makes this a particularly tantalizing fight.
“Point fighter, constantly going backwards,” Gaethje said of his upcoming opponent. “But he’s ranked number ten in the UFC, so he’s going to be a big challenge for me. I’ve got to go out there, I’ve gotta get the W. Be a little more patient than normal, pick my shots.” Coming into the fight on an 0-2 run, Gaethje knows a win is crucial. Never mind that every single one of his fights in the UFC to date has been a Fight of the Night.
As for Vick, “he doesn’t like to get hit. He gets hit going backwards, and that’s the worst way to get hit. So when I do touch him, he’s going to feel it.”
“He’s got good D’arce chokes, good guillotine chokes, I don’t need to stick my neck in one of those,” he allowed of Vick’s talents. Faint praise.
Gaethje, though reserved as always in his comments, seems to be chomping at the bit to get going with this grudge match. “Ready to go. I wish it was today, I wish it was right now,” is how he put it. As for the war of words between him and Vick adding any extra motivation, the man known as ‘The Highlight’ (he is, after all, a human highlight reel) downplayed it as a factor. “I’m a competitor, and I’ve lost two in a row,” he observed. “So I don’t need any extra motivation right now.” Instead he’s looking to prove to himself, and to the world, that he can still hang with the best lightweights out there.
“I’m going to pressure him with my feet, he’s going to be constantly going backward, which is a given with James.”
It’s the highlight reel nature of Gaethje that immediately won him fans when he jumped to the UFC from the WSOF. Stand and bang. Move forward. All out war. Carnage. Yet it’s not exactly a recipe for longevity, or even short term success against the best fighters in the world, as learned from his bouts with Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier.
Which of course has led to questions about Gaethje falling back on his wrestling skills. Yet queried on whether this would be the fight to bring them out, he was hesitant. “No, I don’t know. I have no idea. I go in there, I’m definitely going to put pressure on him,” Gaethje allowed. Having said that, “I’m going to pressure him with my feet. I don’t necessarily need to throw as much, but I’m going to pressure him with my feet, he’s going to be constantly going backward, which is a given with James.”
There’s that dislike of Vick’s style again. Gaethje remains committed to the move-forward-no-matter-what approach. Yet he admits that Vick will be a tough opponent to figure out. More than anything due to his size. “6 foot 3 is not something normal, it’s not something I’m used to,” he said. To combat that, Gaethje’s been training with middleweights and welterweights, fighters like Neil Magny.
We’ll know Saturday night whether the effort paid off. Win or lose, however, if you’re a betting man, bet on another all-out war.
UFC Lincoln (UFC Fight Night 135) takes place August 25 at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, NB. The event goes down live on Fox Sports 1.
