UFC 274’s Justin Gaethje: “I Create Car Crashes, and I Am the Object with the Most Force”

Phoenix, AZ — Despite Charles Oliveira’s impressive run to the UFC lightweight title and beyond, UFC 274 opponent Justin Gaethje does not see the same level of danger from the Brazilian that he saw in Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“They’re definitely not the same athlete, and Charles certainly is not more dangerous than Khabib,” Gaethje (23-3) told media outlets including Cageside Press during Wednesday’s UFC 274 media day in Phoenix. “His ability to take damage is not the same, proven through the times we’ve seen him fight.”

Gaethje knows a thing or two about Khabib, who he faced in October of 2020, in his first shot at gold. He fell short that night. Saturday, “The Highlight” gets a second chance to claim the undisputed UFC lightweight championship, after previously having earned an interim title.

“All my criticism of Charles is from a kid we were talking about, that we all watched grow, and now we’re talking about a man, with confidence. It’s a different person, but ultimately the same Charles is still there,” Gaethje continued in his critique of the defending champ. “Same Charles that fought Cub Swanson, same Charles that fought Donald Cerrone, same Charles that fought [Rafael dos Anjos], [Anthony] Pettis. Choices were made in that, by him. And the choice to quit was made. And I’m going to give him that choice on Sautrday night, I guarantee that.”

Many of Oliveira’s critics have changed their tune on the narrative that he quits in fights, after “Do Bronx” overcame adversity against Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier.

“That’s fine,” Gaethje responded on that front. “I think that’s true, however, once a coward, always a coward. I’m not calling him a coward, but you can’t just take that away. It’s there. Khabib never showed you that, and that’s why you can’t compare those two.”

Gaethje believes there’s one key mistake he made in the fight against Nurmagomedov, which he won’t repeat this Saturday at UFC 274.

“A tactic was gonna be to evade, and that was the first and only time that I’ve ever had that mind set,” he admitted. “And it won’t happen on Saturday. If he marches through me, good for him, but I won’t be moving backwards.”

In his own media day appearance, Oliveira promised a collision in the UFC 274 main event. Gaehtje’s ears perked up at that.

“I create car crashes, and I am the object with the most force. Same mass. If he wants to play that game, I’m more than happy. He won’t. He will have to— this will be like Tony Ferguson. He will try to get this to the ground, and he’ll be stuck fighting my fight. That’s the name of the game.”

Justin Gaethje faces Charles Oliveira at UFC 274 on Saturday, May 7, 2022 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Check out highlights from Gaethje’s media day scrum above. More coverage can be found below.