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Every athlete is looking to be great, that attempt to be great and the drive that gets them there is what makes the difference between professionals and amateurs.
Greatness is a funny thing though as it can be defined as many different things when it comes to sports.
In any sport winning is always the biggest measure of just how great an athlete is because it is simple to see and judge.
Winning can also be an interesting thing when looking at a particular athlete though as they don’t always have control over winning.
In team sports, there are a number of other players that need to get together to win games and championships.
Although one player can make a big difference they will never win entirely on their own and when defining greatness that has to be taken into account.
In individual sports things are a little different as athletes do have more control over exactly what they can do.
Combat sport is in that vein as the athletes are in control of their own destiny for the most part as individual athletes.
They aren’t beholden to a team even if they do train and work with teams they are always responsible for themselves.
The big difference in combat sports though is that greatness might not entirely be defined by wins and titles.
They are important and the biggest names are always the ones that win titles and win more fights but they aren’t the only ones with stardom.
There are still fighters who can make a name for themselves without that pursuit of a title even if their end goal is always the same.
Rarely does a fighter come into combat sports looking to just win fights as all of them want to win titles.
Justin Gaethje might be the fighter that broke that mould though as he did get into the game to win titles but that doesn’t seem to be his goal any more.
After fighting in smaller promotions for years and winning titles he finally made his way to the UFC a few years ago.
He seemed like he could be an eventual title contender but it was clear from the start of his time in the UFC that it was not going to happen.
Gaethje was a great fighter but his ability was never going to match the best fighters in the UFC especially with his style of fighting.
He goes all out at every fight and like those fighters that go all out they often lose because they get caught easily.
That was always going to be a problem for Gaethje as he was never going to be able to compete with the best in the UFC fighting that style.
He was going to have to fight smarter if he wanted to get his title shot in the UFC but early on it seemed like he didn’t care about that adjustment.
Although everyone knew he was supposed to fight smarter he continued to go forward and as his brief UFC career continued his level of care seemed to vanish.
In post-fight interviews, he would make it no secret that he wasn’t looking to make a title run any time soon but he was looking to fight big fights.
He claimed that he wasn’t going to be fighting for much longer so he wanted fights that were going to make an impact.
Essentially, he was looking to build a different type of legacy of greatness that didn’t revolve around wins and titles.
Instead, he wants his legacy to be about fighting great fights and being one of the most exciting fighters in the sport.
He will get another chance to prove that in Philadelphia when he takes on Edson Barboza in what promises to be a fun fight.
Barboza is known for his striking acumen with great kicks and boxing that could bring a lot of action to this fight.
Gaethje will do what he always does though as he will come forward and try to make this a brawl.
It leaves everything up for grabs as he could very well earn the knockout with his aggressive style or could get knocked out himself.
Either way, it is an exciting fight and one that will build Gaethje’s reputation once again as being one of the more exciting fighters on the roster.
The Sport Addiction 