Lightweight champ Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje is one of the centerpiece fighters for World Series of Fighting (The other is bantamweight champ Marlon Moraes), and he’s fighting at WSOF 29 on Saturday. He’s racked up some very impressive finishes during his career, but his biggest test is yet to come. No, not against Brian Foster, or even a run in the UFC, but the ability to get a Wikipedia page.
Gaethje has fought and beaten five fighters with their own Wiki pages, but that still hasn’t lead to him getting one. But I’m not here to talk about Wikipedia, or even the guys that Gaethje has knocked off in his climb to the top. I just want to showcase how awesome Gaethje is inside the cage, because you absolutely should be watching his fights.
vs Cavalcante
Gaethje made his WSOF debut taking on Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante, a staple in the JMMA scene. It only took “The Highlight” half a round of elbows to open up a gnarly cut and stop Cavalcante, putting Justin on a lot of people’s radars.
vs Cobb
Like Gaethje, Brian Cobb also doesn’t have a Wiki page, but that’s the only similarities. Gaethje brutalized Cobb’s legs, forcing Brian to tap to leg kicks in the third round. This is the fight that made me a Gaethje fan.
vs Lauzon
Dan Lauzon is the brother of UFC bonus kingpin Joe Lauzon and due to a curse from a witch, any and all sibling pairs in MMA have to feature one good fighter and one terrible fighter. Unfortunately for Dan, Joe is pretty good. Lauzon wasn’t much of a challenge, lasting nearly two minutes into round two.
vs Patishnock
Gaethje took on Rich Patishnock for the vacant lightweight title, and holy dip, you guys. Justin beat the ever loving sh*t out of Patishnock, stopping him in just over a minute to win the belt.
vs Newell
Gaethje had won the WSOF lightweight title by punching out Rich Patishnock’s lights out, and he was set to make his first defense. Enter Nick Newell, a serious grappling threat that had garnered a lot of attention due to being born with only one hand. Newell, like Gaethje, was undefeated going into this fight, but once again, Gaethje came out on top thanks to his striking prowess.
vs Palomino 1 & 2
Luis Palomino was another title challenger, and he brought not only a BJJ black belt, but a dangerous stand up game with a solid capoeira background. The first bout was high energy and full of action, with both fighters taking big shots. Gaethje’s kicks eventually found their mark and he started to chop away at Palomino’s legs. In the third round, Palomino went down and Gaethje finished him off.
With such an awesome fight in the books, it was only fitting for WSOF to take Gaethje and Palomino and smash them together again. The rematch didn’t quite live up to the first, but there was still plenty of action.
You can watch Justin Gaethje attempt to add Brian Foster to his highlight reel in the main event of WSOF 29 on NBC Sports. Gaethje’s lightweight belt is on the line, and hopefully a win will finally get Justin the Wikipedia page he deserves.
