Eric Nicksick explains how kicks could help Justin Gaethje beat Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250
Eric Nicksick has outlined Justin Gaethje's potential path to victory over Ilia Topuria in their undisputed UFC lightweight championship match.
Justin Gaethje has vowed to achieve his dream of becoming the undisputed UFC lightweight champion. His past couple of attempts at capturing the title ended in defeats for him -- losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira, both via submission, in 2020 and 2022, respectively.
The former BMF champion and reigning interim UFC lightweight champion is now headed into his third shot at undisputed gold at 155 pounds. He's currently the interim UFC lightweight champion and is set to take on reigning UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.
The Topuria-Gaethje lightweight title unifier, the winner of which would emerge as the undisputed UFC lightweight champion, is booked to headline UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in Washington on June 14, 2026.
Eric Nicksick breaks down the technical elements at play in Justin Gaethje's fight against Ilia Topuria
In a recent conversation with Home of Fight, Eric Nicksick -- who's coached multiple current and former UFC champions such as Sean Strickland and Francis Ngannou -- discussed the UFC Freedom 250 headliner.
Nicksick opined that Gaethje always has a chance of emerging victorious in any fight. Nevertheless, he noted that Topuria has more paths to win, including by utilizing his excellent grappling prowess.
However, he then harked back to Gaethje's BMF title-winning headkick KO in his rematch against Dustin Poirier in July 2023. Nicksick drew attention to the fact that Gaethje secured that knockout by throwing a same-side headkick that seemingly came out of nowhere and caught his opponent off guard.
Nicksick further emphasized how kicks could be the path to victory for the American fighter against Topuria. He stated, "For me, if I'm fighting Topuria, you have to keep his back hand active by -- meaning you have to jam that with the kicks. So if I'm on the Gaethje side of things, I'm looking to kick a lot. I'm looking to same side. I'm looking to exit with it; those conduit rolls; to keep his right hand busy. How do you keep it jammed? You've got to kick that thing."
MMA coach reaffirms importance of kicks in Justin Gaethje's UFC Freedom 250 clash against Ilia Topuria
Moreover, in response to the suggestion that the aforementioned factors are why many want to see Topuria fight UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev (a southpaw wrestler with good kicks), Nicksick concurred. The veteran MMA coach said, "I completely agree. I think you just have to come up with some different things."
Nicksick harked back to Topuria's lightweight matchup against Jai Herbert from 2022, which is often discussed by fans and experts when assessing potential chinks in the Georgian-Spaniard fighter's armor.
Well, Nicksick alluded to Topuria getting knocked down by Herbert's headkick in round one of that fight. For context, "El Matador" had stepped in as a late replacement, after Mike Davis' withdrawal from that matchup, and faced Herbert at lightweight.
This was early on in Topuria's UFC run when he was consistently competing at featherweight. Despite suffering a knockdown in the first round, he managed to rally and knock Herbert out in the second round, thereby winning the fight.
On that note, Nicksick explained, "You know, there's some flaws there. And I've seen Topuria get headkicked in some of those areas. So, yeah, I think with (Gaethje's coach) Trevor Wittman, and Gaethje, and those guys -- they're gonna come up with a good game plan and make it competitive."
That said, Nicksick asserted that he still feels Topuria is likelier to win the fight. He continued, "But if I had to pick, I would say it's Topuria, just because there's more paths to victory for him."
Watch Eric Nicksick discuss the Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje matchup below (*comments at the 17:48-minute mark of the video):
