Undefeated WSOF Champ Justin Gaethje Focused on Quicker Finishes | MMAWeekly.com

After spending the entirety of 2015 combating Luis Palomino, World Series of Fighting lightweight champion Justin Gaethje stepped in against a new challenger and came out with a first-round TKO stoppage of Brian Foster this past March.

Behind a barrage of leg kicks, Gaethje quickly broke Foster down, and picked up his fourth title defense to remain undefeated thus far in his career.

“It went fantastic,” Gaethje told MMAWeekly.com. “Those quick fights are always good on the body. It’s all timing. It was perfect timing. (Foster) put a lot of weight on his front leg every time he punched, so those kicks were very effective.

“Leading up to that was stressful, wondering if I was going to be better than him. But yeah, I went out there and finished it quickly, so I was very happy about that.”

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Being able to use more than his wrestling background is a big key for Gaethje to not only be successful in his fights, but also make himself more marketable as a fighter.

“I’m trying to make money in this sport, and I don’t think wrestling is the way to do that,” he said. “It’s just like a pin in wrestling. I always went out there for the pin. Now I’m going for the knockout because that means I get to get out of there sooner.”

Gaethje (16-0) will look to make his fifth successful title defense when he takes on challenger Ozzy Dugulubgov (8-2) in the main event of WSOF 33 on Oct. 7 in Kansas City.

“He’s got some power,” said Gaethje of Dugulubgov. “He can definitely get lucky and hit me on the button and knock me out, but I think he’s going to try to take me down and lay on top of me. I think that’s really going to be his game plan.

“He doesn’t like getting hit very much, and as soon as he finds out how hard I hit, he’s not going to want to stand up anymore. I think it’s going to be a good fight for me. Hopefully, I’m going to go out there and put it on him.”

With the announcement that Gaethje will be part of WSOF’s debut in New York City on New Year’s Eve, it could be easy for him to fall into the trap of looking too far ahead, but he’s not letting other opportunities get in the way of his focus on his upcoming fight with Dugulubgov.

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“With wrestling, it was always the next tournament, the next weekend, but I learned real quick that if you don’t focus right here, right now, on this one, I could get hurt and won’t be able to fight in December, and it could be an opportunity missed,” Gaethje said.

“This fight right here is all that’s on my mind. I haven’t even thought about NYC yet, outside of letting people know they’ve announced it. I’m worried about Ozzy right now in Kansas City on Oct. 7.”

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