Nick Newell, who faced Justin Gaethje in a 2014 WSOF title fight and lost by TKO, has reflected on what made Gaethje so difficult to deal with. Newell noted that despite clearly hearing Gaethje laboring to breathe during the fight, his output, power, and forward pressure never dropped. Newell said he has seen only two fighters who operate this way regardless of fatigue, naming Gaethje and Dricus Du Plessis.
Nick Newell has opened up about his 2014 WSOF lightweight title fight against Justin Gaethje, describing the current UFC lightweight champion as a fighter who simply does not register fatigue in the way normal competitors do.
Newell, now 40, carries a professional record of 14-2 and lost that contest by TKO. Despite the result, the southpaw from the United States came away with a striking observation: at one point during the fight he could clearly hear Gaethje struggling to breathe, yet the output, power, and relentless forward pressure never wavered. Newell summarized it bluntly, saying the only way to stop him is to kill him.
Gaethje, 37, is the reigning UFC lightweight champion and holds a record of 28-5. Fighting out of Genesis Training Center in an orthodox stance, he stands five-foot-eleven with a 70-inch reach. The numbers back up Newell's account — Gaethje lands 6.48 significant strikes per minute at a 58 percent accuracy rate, among the most punishing outputs in the lightweight division.
Newell named only one other fighter he believes operates with the same disregard for fatigue: middleweight contender Dricus Du Plessis. The South African, ranked second in the middleweight division and seventh pound-for-pound at 32 years old, carries a 23-3 record and fights out of a switch stance. Du Plessis stands six-foot-one with a 76-inch reach and lands 5.18 significant strikes per minute while also averaging 2.22 takedowns per 15 minutes, making him a genuinely multi-dimensional threat.
Why it matters
- Gaethje's relentless pressure style is now validated by a fighter who experienced it firsthand at championship level
- Du Plessis being placed in the same category underlines how his conditioning and output set him apart in the middleweight division
- The comparison highlights a rare fighter trait — sustained aggression and power that does not diminish under physical stress
