Justin Gaethje isn’t letting Ilia Topuria’s latest jab slide. After Topuria implied in his comeback announcement that Gaethje may have had “something weird” on his gloves during their UFC Freedom 250 fight, the lightweight champion responded directly.
“94 days and the best you could come up with is a lame excuse. As terrible as your last performance. Do better kid,” Gaethje said.
Justin Gaethje’s “94 days” line appears to reference the length of time since their fight, framing Topuria’s accusation as something that only surfaced now, well after the result, rather than being raised in the immediate aftermath. The comment reads as Gaethje dismissing the claim as a way to explain away the loss rather than a genuine grievance, and he didn’t hold back in also taking a shot at the fight itself, calling Topuria’s performance “terrible.”
The exchange follows Topuria’s own social media posts announcing he’s medically cleared and ready to return, in which he wrote that “next time I’ll make sure they check Justin’s gloves so he doesn’t put anything weird on them.” That comment came without any supporting evidence, and no commission or UFC official has flagged any issue with Gaethje’s gloves or hand wraps from the fight. Topuria suffered fractures to both orbital bones and a broken nose in the loss, which was stopped by his corner between the fourth and fifth rounds.
Justin Gaethje Has Already Ruled Out an Immediate Rematch
Beyond the war of words, the new lightweight champion has made clear he has no interest in running it back with Topuria right away. Speaking previously to RMC Sport Combat, Gaethje was blunt:
“He’s not fighting me next.”
He’s argued that Arman Tsarukyan, the division’s number two contender, deserves the next title shot more, and has insisted his win over Topuria wasn’t a fluke, saying he controlled the fight and “beat him up” rather than getting lucky. Justin Gaethje has maintained that Topuria will need to win another fight before he’s in title contention again, pointing instead to the winner of Tsarukyan’s UFC 331 co-main event against Mauricio Ruffy as his likely next opponent.
With Gaethje shutting the door on a rematch and now publicly clapping back at the gloves accusation, the rivalry shows no signs of cooling off, even as Topuria works his way back toward title contention through other opponents.
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