Oh no, they’re fighting again…
By “they,” I mean Michael Johnson and Justin Gaethje…
Michael Johnson, someone who got his big UFC break on The Ultimate Fighter several seasons back and Justin Gaethje, who’ll make his UFC debut when he locks horns with Johnson at the TUF 25 Finale.
There’s been bad blood these two guys for quite a bit of time now, starting with Gaethje saying that he would he “break” Johnson, just he has in all his other fights, then having Michael fire back at him with this little interview.
“Gaethje is a f*cking fool,” Johnson said. “Who’s broken me in the UFC? I’ll wait. You can tell me who — nobody has broken me in the UFC and it won’t be a newcomer, I’ll tell you that.”
“That’s exactly what I’m gonna exploit,” Johnson said. “He takes way too much damage. He sits there and has wars with these guys. His career’s not gonna last that long. He looks at fights like 50-50. They go in there and start throwing punches. Do I think he’s gonna fight me like that? No, I don’t. I think we’re gonna get in there and I think we’re gonna trade some punches and then he’s gonna start to wrestle, if he doesn’t wrestle right from the start.”
Gaethje, not to be outdone, retorted by spewing even more insults in Johnson’s direction… “Mental midget,” this guy’s great.
“Johnson is a mental midget. You see his interviews and he says this is all talk, he’s just trying to build the fight. No. This is not a game to me. Everything you’ve said, I’ve taken personal. It doesn’t affect me emotionally. I wanted to kill him when the fight got announced and I want to kill him now. No more, no less. It’s life or death for me every single time I step in the cage.”
“The most detrimental thing to me is the fact you have to be a piece of s**t for people to like you. It’s crazy to me. People love the fact Chael Sonnen is saying he’s undefeated. It’s crazy to me that people like something like that but don’t give respect to the fighters that just put it on the line. Tim Boestch just got a sweet KO. He’s not gonna talk s**t so it won’t help him. That’s unfortunate. I don’t like how people are so uneducated they need bulls**t to watch a fight. You see Tony Ferguson saying he won’t fight Kevin Lee because he doesn’t meet his standards? F**k him. That’s a b**ch move. You’re at the top and either you want to fight or you don’t. I want to fight and hopefully that registers with the UFC.”
“I’m trying to be as real as I can and I’m being myself. I’m not gonna create an act. I’m not larger than life, my personality is not larger than life, I promise you. But when I fight I am larger than life, I promise you that.”
Who do you think will win?
Personally, I don’t have a clue, but either way I’ll be tuning to watch the TUF 25 Finale, that’s gonna be a great night of fights.