'The Highlight' continues to pile them up on his resume after another devastating finish on Saturday night
Justin Gaethje has long been referred to as "The Highlight" for a reason. But after Saturday's knockout of Dustin Poirier in their rematch at UFC 291, he appears to be one victory away from being referred to as lightweight champion.
Gaethje (25-4), a former interim titleholder, captured the ceremonial BMF title inside the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a second-round finish of Dustin Poirier via head kick in what should be the final hurdle for the 34-year-old slugger in his hope for a third shot at the 155-pound title.
"Unlike any other sport on earth, you rarely get a chance at redemption," Gaethje said. "We take a loss and it just sits with us and eats away. We usually don't get another chance so to come back and prove myself, I believed in myself the whole time."
Poirier (29-8,1 NC) previously scored a fourth-round stoppage of Gaethje in a fight the former World Series of Fighting champion has long circled as a turning point of his career. But Gaethje gained revenge not by committing to the all-action, savage pace he is known for. Instead, Gaethje was calm and poised as he targeted hard outside leg kicks in the opening round and showcased the continued evolution of his striking to set up the finish.
"I was kinda surprised he threw the high kick in the first round, luckily I had something in between when it landed but I didn't think he was gonna go back to it," Poirier said after the fight. "I was trying to hide my kick to the body with the cross, kinda the same thing he did. And he kept dipping so hard when I threw that body kick. The one time I did something different, he pulled back. That's fighting, that's why I love this sport. It's the theater of the unknown out there. It's heartbreaking, but I keep coming back. It keeps calling me, I can't stop."
In the same building as Leon Edwards knocked out Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 one year ago, Gaethje landed a similar high kick that was perfectly set up first floating an overhand right that distracted the attention of Poirier's gaze. And even though the 34-year-old Poirier was able to partially block the right high kick that followed, Gaethje still landed hard enough to knock him out cold as referee Herb Dean waved off the bout at 1:00 of Round 2.
"If you watch [the first Poirier fight] compared to this fight, it's night and day," Gaethje said. "I had to understand that it was a tough lesson to learn. That man taught me that lesson and I thank God for him.
"I was so calm in here. It was like another day chilling at my house. Ten years ago, I could never imagine being here but I just worked my ass off. I told Dustin he's my favorite fighter on earth and I just thank God I came out on the right side this time. It's a crazy sport and it's unforgiving but I trust in myself and I trust in my abilities. And I have the support of the world so that's why I am here."
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Gaethje received his ceremonial BMF title from retired star Jorge Masvidal, who defeated Nate Diaz in the inaugural BMF title bout in 2019.
After the victory, Gaethje called for the winner of lightweight champion Islam Makhachev's October rematch with former titleholder Charles Oliveira, who submitted Gaethje in Round 1 of their title bout in 2022.
"You know what I want to do next, I want to fight for the world championship," Gaethje said. "[Makhachev and Oliveira] are fighting in October. I want to prove I'm the best in the world. Win, lose or draw, max effort is what you are going to get out of me. Luck and chance are a factor and I'm willing to roll the dice every f---ing day."
Elsewhere on the card, Alex Pereira made a successful light heavyweight debut, albeit with its own bit of controversy. The Brazilian outpointed Jan Blachowicz on two of the judges' scorecards to earn a split decision and set him up to challenge for the vacant title at 205 pounds. Plus, Derrick Lewis returned to form with a quick TKO of Marcos Rogerio de Lima and he celebrated in kind by taking off his shorts. Bobby Green and Kevin Holland also picked up big wins as each man scored a submission of Tony Ferguson and Michael Chiesa, respectively.
CBS Sports was be with you the entire way on Saturday bringing you all the results and highlights from the UFC 291 below.
UFC 291 card and results
- Justin Gaethje def. Dustin Poirier via second-round knockout (head kick)
- Alex Pereira def. Jan Blachowicz via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Derrick Lewis def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima via first-round TKO (punches)
- Bobby Green def. Tony Ferguson via third-round submission (head and arm triangle)
- Kevin Holland def. Michael Chiesa via first-round submission (d'arce choke)
- Gabriel Bonfim def. Trevin Giles via first-round submission (guillotine choke)
- CJ Vergara def. Vinicius Salvador via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Roman Kopylov def. Claudio Ribeiro via second-round knockout (head kick)
- Jake Matthews def. Darrius Flowers via second-round submission (rear-naked choke)
- Uros Medic def. Matthew Semelsberger via third-round TKO (punches)
- Miranda Maverick def. Priscila Cachoeira via third-round submission (armbar)
