Been watching Justin Gaethje for years now. I've always been a fan of his brawling style, his strength, his intelligence, and his perseverance. Secretly, I've rooted for him to someday become champion.
When he faced Khabib Nurmagomedov—arguably the best that's ever been—I was crushed when he lost. But what are you going to do against Khabib?
And honestly, Justin's attitude in that loss said everything about the warrior and the person he is inside.
Combat sports are bloody and violent, but underneath that blood and violence is the spirit of man. What you see in the ring is only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath it are years of training, dedication, discipline, sacrifice, setbacks, and persistence.
It starts as curiosity.
Curiosity turns into passion.
Passion turns into purpose.
Purpose creates autonomy—freedom.
And eventually, if you stay with it long enough, you enter the realm of mastery.
That stack is what carries people through the inevitable ups and downs. The grit. The determination. The setbacks. The failures. Then combine that with constantly learning, constantly adapting, constantly creating, and finally knowing how and when to drop into the zone.
And then, in a pure fight, one human being against another, it all gets expressed.
For the sheer delight of it.
I tip my hat to MMA warriors.
A lot of sports today seem filled with multi-million-dollar athletes acting like divas, flopping all over the field or the court. "He fouled me!"
But MMA fighters, no matter how rich they become, eventually have to find a different level when someone is standing across from them trying to punch them in the face.
That's my cup of tea, folks.
The UFC event at the White House celebrated a distinctly different side of America.
And here's the thing: celebrating diversity, inclusion, and compassion are things of great worth. But so is celebrating the blood, sweat, sacrifice, and yes, violence, that secured those freedoms in the first place.
I'm a fan of America.
I'm a fan of Justin Gaethje.
I'm a fan of Ilia Topuria, whose orbital bone Justin helped rearrange.
And then Justin, after winning, does what he always does and makes me cringe.
He jumps on top of the cage and does a backflip.
This time, after such a brutal fight, I honestly thought he was going to hurt himself.
He didn't stick the landing.
He didn't get points for style.
But damn, he got points for being a warrior.
And even more than that, for the sheer joy of victory mixed with genuine gratitude and respect for his opponent.
A classy warrior.
Celebrating individual excellence made possible by the previous great and largely unsung warriors of the United States of America.