Outside Source
While Gaethje (27-5) rarely lands perfectly, his backflip celebrations after his wins have become a part of MMA lore. However, Gaethje didn’t do a backflip after winning the interim lightweight title with a beatdown of Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 last month.
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Gaethje recently revealed that his backflip celebrations are only reserved for knockout wins. Gaethje has only broken his policy once and celebrated with a backflip without knocking someone out. Gaethje explains that a knockout gives him a surge of emotions that he needs to vent with a backflip. Gaethje is now expected to fight lightweight champion Ilia Topuria in a title unifier. “The Highlight” hopes to fight Topuria at the White House in June and backflip on the White House lawn after knocking him out.
A Rush of Emotions
“It’s pretty much my only rule – I’ve only done it once outside of knocking somebody out,” Gaethje told Mark McClune. “If I knock somebody out, then the rush of emotions is too much, where I have to flip off something. But if you don’t get that knockout, there really isn’t a spike of emotion. So I sure hope to knock [Topuria] out, and I sure hope to do a backflip on the White House lawn. That would be absolutely spectacular.”
Justin Gaethje says he only celebrates with a backflip after a knockout 🔥🤸♂️
“It’s pretty much my rule: if I knock somebody out, then the rush of emotions is too much, where I have to flip off something. But if you don’t get that knockout, there really isn’t a spike of emotion.… pic.twitter.com/aoC9uNxA9k
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) February 2, 2026
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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