MMA Twitter thinks Justin Gaethje looks different and they are no okay with the new look.
A screengrab from an ESPN MMA interview with the BMF champion is making it rounds online and he does look fairly different. In the image he's shaved his beard and is wearing a hat. Also, because of the angle of the camera it looks like he's put on a few pounds.
And leave it to Twitter to meme it to death.
Gaethje is gearing up to defend his BMF title versus Max Holloway at UFC 300. But he thought winning the BMF title secured him the next shot at the lightweight title.
"We've been here so many times, where they say one thing [and do another]. Someone gets a cut on their eye, a fight goes a specific way, it's a draw, it's a no contest. There are so many factors... I thought me and Poirier were a title [eliminator]..." he said in the interview. "I want to say that I thought [Dana White] said that was a title eliminator fight. I fought that fight, I got a knockout in the second round... I'm pretty sure [White] said it, I'm not gonna hold him to it because I love the fact that anything can change in this."
UFC 300 takes place in April and, so far, it appears as though Gaethje will be the co-main event. The main event has not been announced just yet.
Not everyone is happy about the match-up though. UFC commentator Joe Rogan talked about it on his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience recently.
"You know what I hate? Max is a great 45-pounder, Dustin Poirier beat him up at 55 pounds. I think those guys are a little bit too big for him," Rogan said of Holloway fighting Gaethje. "Also, Max is right there in the hunt for the title. Volkanovski gets done with Topuria, Max is a likely next fight. It's 100 percent there."