The Highlight Provided One of the Highlight Moments of the Year, With Justin Gaethje’s Epic 1 Punch KO Win Over James Vick…
UFC Lincoln went down this weekend. It went stupidly under the radar thanks to a boxing match between two Youtubers whose names we will not mention out of respect for our audience. This was strange because two of the most exciting fighters in the lightweight division was finally going head-to-head.
It’s only the 4th time that former WSOF Champion Justin Gaethje has fought in the UFC, but incredibly he has headlined every event he’s taken part in so far. Coming off the backs off incredibly exciting defeats to Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez, he really needed this win to stay on track.
Meanwhile, Vick was in that strange position of having gone on a 4 fight win streak, but without the UFC showing any desire to promote him any further. Finally, he was given a shot to state his case to the promotion. It didn’t go well.
'The Highlight' is BACK! pic.twitter.com/ZwerZxfOHK
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) August 26, 2018
One Shot KO
The fight started with the much taller Vick throwing kicks to Gaethje’s body to try and slow him down. Of course, it didn’t – it’s Gaethje after all. Every fight the man is in is an absolute war. He managed to close the distance, and advance force, and then it was all over.
This was as clean as KO as you’ll ever see. Gaethje threw one hand that didn’t connect. It was quickly followed by a massive overhand right that chopped Vick down before he even knew what happened. The referee intervened and Gaethje’s career was back on track.
Disappointment
For Vick, this was a massive blow. He’s been struggling to get top-10 opposition in the past and is definitely one of those fighters that the UFC don’t mind having around but really don’t want to be a champion. He increased his stock by replacing Al Iaquinta who was expected to fight Gaethje, but getting KOed like that will have done a lot of damage.
For Gaethje it was redemption. He’s been involved in two absolute wars in his last couple of fights, against Alvarez and Poirier. Both ended with him being TKOed, and he was roundly criticized for not implementing his wrestling more. We’ve no idea what he was going to do this time around, but anyway he won so who cares.
Callout
After the fight, Gaethje called out the recently-returned Tony Ferguson. El Cucuy will fight Anthony Pettis on the main card of UFC 229. However, he is also the first reserve for the Conor McGregor v Khabib Nurmagamedov fight. He also wants to talk money with the UFC. He said:
“It should get me a business meeting with the UFC. The way I put it on the line, I need all my money up front. And that’s how it should work for people like me.”
I’m not exactly sure that’s how it works, but we all love someone who tries. There’s absolutely no doubt that his fights are guaranteed entertainment – one way or another.
