Before he parlayed a standout wrestling career at Northern Colorado into UFC stardom, Justin Gaethje worked at the Morenci copper mine in Greenlee County, Ariz., the summer after graduating high school.
There, the current Lakewood resident worked 14-hour days for 68 consecutive days, grueling labor that prompted him to search out a path away from the mining industry that many of his family members had already trod.
“It was a good lesson to learn,” Gaethje said. “… I was trying to find something that would keep me from (a life working at the mine). I’d get home completely black from all the dirt and dust and grime. I’d take a shower, eat, go to bed and get up and do it all again.
“When I left (for UNC), two co-workers who were on my crew told me I would be right back there because I wouldn’t make it (in college wrestling). I’m glad that I proved those guys wrong. I think they were just trying to light a fire under me, and they definitely did that. … If I were to see then where I am now, I’d be absolutely ecstatic.”
Gaethje, whose MMA career began on the amateur scene while in college, is fighting on the main card of Saturday’s historic UFC 300 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He is the No. 2 contender in the lightweight division and is taking on underdog Max Holloway, who is the No. 2 contender in the featherweight division.
Saturday’s lightweight bout features a streaking Gaethje, who is coming off a KO of Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 291 last summer, against Holloway, who has fought at lightweight just once in his UFC career. Gaethje’s BMF belt is on the line.
“Max Holloway is the perfect dance partner to make sure that this is a very exciting fight,” Gaethje said. “I’ve been performing better than ever my last few fights. I’m very confident, and that’s a huge factor when you step in there. I’m expecting to be perfect.”
Also at stake for Gaethje is another shot at the lightweight title down the line.
Gaethje held the interim lightweight belt in 2020, but has since lost title fights to Khabib Nurmagomedov (October 2020) and Charles Oliveira (May 2022). Should Gaethje beat Holloway, he believes he’d be in line for another crack at the belt.
That timeline comes with the idea that the winner between Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 might take on champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 on June 1, and the winner of that fight could face Gaethje in late fall. Poirier has also been in the mix to get the next crack at Makhachev, or Holloway might if he wins on Saturday.
Gaethje doesn’t think he’d be ready for a June fight coming off UFC 300 as it would be a fairly quick turnaround.
“November at Madison Square Garden (would be ideal) — and that’s just me trying to put it out there and trying to make things happen,” Gaethje said. “You never know, and certainly without a win this weekend, that all goes away. I’m focused on this fight.”
Gaethje, who trains with renowned MMA coach Trevor Wittman at Onx Sports in Golden and at High Altitude Martial Arts in Denver, is not the only Colorado-based fighter on the UFC 300 main card. Cody Brundage, who trains at Factory X in Englewood, is also fighting. The middleweight takes on Bo Nickal in the first fight of the main card, two bouts before Gaethje vs. Holloway.
That a pair of Colorado fighters are featured on the main card of the historic, star-studded UFC 300 seems appropriate given the sport’s Colorado roots. UFC 1 was held Nov. 12, 1993, in front of a crowd of 7,800 at McNichols Sports Arena.
Nearly 87,000 more fans watched at home via pay-per-view in UFC’s shockingly bloody genesis, which was held in Colorado because of the lack of a state boxing commission.
The bare-knuckle affair featured a bracket with eight competitors using eight different fighting styles. The only rules were no eye gouging, groin shots or biting. There were no weight classes or judges, and with unlimited five-minute rounds, the only way for a fight to end was via KO/TKO, submission, doctor stoppage or the corner throwing in the towel.
The first fight between sumo wrestler Teila Tuli and savate expert Gerard Gordeau ended up with Gordeau kicking Tuli’s teeth out 26 seconds into the match, setting the UFC’s early standard for unbridled violence. Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Royce Gracie ended up winning the tournament with three submissions, including one of Gordeau in the championship match, to claim the $50,000 purse.
In the 31 years since, the UFC has transformed into a billion-dollar enterprise and its popularity has exploded, thanks in large part to stars like “The Highlight” Gaethje.
“There’s so many good talents now,” Gracie said. “At the beginning, it was a style against a style. Now, it’s a fighter against a fighter.
“We knew (in the renowned Gracie fighting family) that the UFC was going to be big. My brother (UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie) knew, my father (Brazilian jiu-jitsu godfather Hélio Gracie) knew, I knew. The no-holds-barred, no gloves, everything-goes fighting had been happening in Brazil for many years. But nobody knew about it. Once America found out, the whole world found out, and that’s exactly what happened that night in Denver.”
