{"id":354129,"date":"2020-06-24T06:28:55","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T13:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=354129"},"modified":"2020-06-24T06:29:12","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T13:29:12","slug":"justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling inside the Octagon.<\/p>\n

Gaethje is known for his wild fights, his chopping leg kicks and his fight-ending punching power. However, the interim champion got his start in combat sports as an NCAA Division 1 wrestler.<\/p>\n

Given his background in wrestling, many fans have found it surprising that we see so little wrestling from him. Apparently, there’s a reason for that.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Brendan Schaub’s Below the Belt podcast, Gaethje explained that wrestling simply makes him much more tired than striking does.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always against it [wrestling] because I was gonna get tired,\u201d Gaethje said (transcript via Bloody Elbow<\/a>). \u201cI walked off a seven minute match \u2014 almost every time \u2014 almost unable to walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I wrestle or the way I do anything is not to preserve energy. I don\u2019t wrestle to preserve energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Gaethje last fought in May, when he stepped in on short notice to replace UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov against Tony Ferguson. The pair battled for the interim lightweight strap.<\/p>\n

Ferguson, who was riding an insane, 12-fight win-streak, entered the matchup as a slight favorite, but was pummeled on the feet and ultimately stopped by Gaethje in the fifth round. Having captured the interim title, Gaethje is now expected to take on Nurmagomedov for the undisputed strap in the near future\u2014perhaps at UFC 253<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n

Gaethje will likely enter his fight with Nurmagomedov as an underdog, but seems to be developing a solid gameplan<\/a> for dethroning the undisputed champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta self-defense. Without the footwork, you can\u2019t stay out of the fence,\u201d Gaethje said on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. \u201cIf he is taking a shot in the open then he will drive you down to the fence. He\u2019s not gonna attempt takedowns in the open. You watch all of his fights. You\u2019ll maybe see five takedowns that he attempted in the middle of the cage. He\u2019ll start in the middle but he is too pushy towards the cage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaethje also opened up on his game plan for Nurmagomedov in a recent interview with ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so athletic,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first thing to go when you get tired is your legs, so my legs, from now until then, I\u2019m gonna be running a lot, jump rope a lot, a lot of step ups, squats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my legs are in shape I don\u2019t get tired,\u201d Gaethje added. \u201cIf I don\u2019t get tired I can get back up. If I can get back up, I can hit him like a truck. I only gotta kick him eight times in the calves before he\u2019s compromised. There\u2019s lot of factors. I\u2019m gonna work on being me, stay in shape. It\u2019s all cardio.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling inside the Octagon. Gaethje is known for his wild fights, his chopping leg kicks and his fight-ending punching power. However, the interim champion got his start in combat sports as an NCAA Division 1 wrestler. Given his background in wrestling, many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":282835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[25154,10114,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJustin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling exchanges inside the Octagon.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling exchanges inside the Octagon.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-24T13:28:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-24T13:29:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Justin-Gaethje-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-24T13:28:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-24T13:29:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/\"},\"wordCount\":483,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Justin Gaethje\",\"Khabib Nurmagomedov\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/\",\"name\":\"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-24T13:28:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-06-24T13:29:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling exchanges inside the Octagon.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights | BJPenn.com","description":"UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling exchanges inside the Octagon.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights | BJPenn.com","og_description":"UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling exchanges inside the Octagon.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2020-06-24T13:28:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-06-24T13:29:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Justin-Gaethje-2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights","datePublished":"2020-06-24T13:28:55+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-24T13:29:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/"},"wordCount":483,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Justin Gaethje","Khabib Nurmagomedov","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/","name":"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-06-24T13:28:55+00:00","dateModified":"2020-06-24T13:29:12+00:00","description":"UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has explained why he tends to avoid wrestling exchanges inside the Octagon.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/justin-gaethje-explains-why-he-avoids-wrestling-in-fights\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Justin Gaethje explains why he avoids wrestling in fights"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}