Justin Gaethje is known for his toe-to-toe stand and bang fighting style, to the point where few fans are aware of his impressive wrestling pedigree. Now “The Highlight” is explaining why he’s largely abandoned the ground game in favor of striking.
Gaethje grew up wrestling and was an NCAA Division I athlete in college. He’s had competitive bouts with Jordan Burroughs, one of the best American wrestlers of all time. Yet his sole takedown in the UFC came in his 11th fight for the promotion at UFC 286.
That’s insane. What gives?
““I come from wrestling and don’t use it as much as you would think,” Gaethje explained in a new social media post. “Probably a good criticism because I could have tried to implement it more earlier in my career. Coming from wrestling and never being a striker in any way, I fell in love with the [striking] part of it.”
“I was always the best [in wrestling] at stopping people from taking me down.”
“Another point is that there are seven minute college wrestling matches,” he added. ““Now we’re taking 25-minute [UFC] matches. I could never even walk off the mat after seven minutes, so I’m not going to get tired in seven minutes and then get my ass beat because I tried to wrestle. I’ll never lose like that.”
We also appreciate a previous answer Gaethje gave a few years back.
“I do this for the money,” he declared. “If I was to take a wrestling heavy approach, they would never be paying me what they’re paying me now.”
Gaethje is banking on his reputation as a fan-pleasing banger to earn him a title fight against Ilia Topuria in the early part of 2026.
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He probably has shitty top control
Yeah because somebody who was an All American at the D1 level doesn’t know how to maintain a ride 
He may regret not wrestling when he’s older in life and pissing into his sink
Wait… I shouldn’t be pissing in my sink?
He kicked me a few times. Teeps to the stomach. The bones in his toes felt like steel. Not trying to glaze the guy, but he is actually built different.
phuck yes
I know the guy who prevented him from being a 3x state champion in high school. He made it look easy in the state finals. Both were undefeated.
haha pissing in the sink is the best thing about going to a hotel. or staying with extended family.
Never forget the UFC PR machine saying Justin would beat Khabib with “folk style wrestling” then he looked like he had never been on the ground in his life.
Yeah but we expected Gaethje to resist the takedowns, NOT to know sub grappling if taken down. A huge difference. In MMA, wrestling and grappling are two separate things.
In his first bouts (in MMA, not the UFC), he used some crazy brutal slam takedowns. They won him fights too.
I’m still amazed how he reversed Chandler’s slamming him middair!