UFC fan-favourite Justin ‘The Highlight’ Gaethje has hailed his training partner and welterweight champion Kamaru Usman for the Nigerian’s immense strength and conditioning.
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Gaethje, 32, is known for his ‘do or die’ style of fighting which has seen the American’s last 12 fights all end in finishes.
Whilst preparing himself for fights in the UFC’s lightweight division, Gaethje trains alongside champion Usman.
Following his incredible performance against Gilbert Burns at last weekend’s UFC 258, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ extended his UFC unbeaten run to 13 fights.
The 33-year-old dominate champion put on an incredible show in what, on the face of it, seemed to be one of his toughest title defences, to date.
Tweeting after round-one of Sunday morning’s hotly contested main-event, Gaethje predicted Usman would win the fight between rounds two and four, something which soon came true.
@USMAN84kg finishes him in the next 3 I believe.
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) February 14, 2021
Although Burns came out swinging in the fight’s early stages, it was to be Usman’s resilient nature which saw the African begin to dictate proceedings from the second round onwards.
A third-round TKO victory, set up by a vicious jab, sealed the 33-year-old’s third title defence with team-mate Gaethje following the action as it happened.
Following on from Gaethje’s impressive prediction, the 32-year-old American went on to explain how Usman was able to comeback and beat some early adversity dished out by Burns.
“[Usman is the] Only guy I train with that gets stronger as the round gets higher,” Gaethje revealed. “[He] also [has] a work ethic second to none.”
You wish you could see us spar. @USMAN84kg only guy I train with that gets stronger as the round gets higher. Also a work ethic second to none. 🙏
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) February 14, 2021