Justin Gaethje entered his bout against Max Holloway at UFC 300 with momentum on his side, only to see it dramatically shift with one kick and a broken nose in the first round.

In Las Vegas on April 13, Gaethje suffered a knockout defeat in the final seconds of the five-round lightweight showdown. Reflecting on the fight during an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show” on Monday, Gaethje revealed how the first-round spinning back kick that fractured his nose swung control of the bout in Holloway’s favor.

“It’s a momentum thing, you know? I caught that kick at the end of the first round, broke my nose,” explained the Arizona native. “Momentum’s a hell of a thing to try to get back once you lose it.”

Gaethje acknowledged Holloway’s adeptness at capitalizing on the momentum shift and maintaining control throughout the fight, commending him for his strategic execution.

“And I think Max did such a good job at gaining that momentum and then keeping that through the fight … He was really good. He surprised me in a couple areas, how patient he was; I thought I was going to be able to pull him into more of a fight, and his patience really threw things off for me. And all credit to him for executing like that.”

Despite suffering his first nose injury in a fight, Gaethje noted that it didn’t significantly affect his breathing during the match.

“I mean, I felt really good in there, you know? I felt amazing in there,” he remarked. “We worked so hard through this whole camp to be ready for a cardiovascular war, and again, he was much more patient than I thought he was gonna be.”

“Going into the fifth round, I remember thinking: ‘Wow, I’m in really good shape.'”

Holloway, a 32-year-old from Hawaii, now boasts a UFC record of 26-7-0, while Gaethje’s record stands at 25-5-0.

Original article