In the weeks leading up to the UFC White House event, Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria had a healthy amount of respect for each other. However, things changed last week after the interim champ made some personal remarks about Topuria’s divorce, suggesting his “annoying” nature would cause anyone to “leave him.” This angered Topuria immensely. The Georgian-Spaniard then threatened to put Gaethje to sleep for ‘crossing the line.’ Despite this, the heated back-and-forth has continued, with the 37-year-old now taking another dig at his opponent.

“You know, my dad is my father,” Gaethje said on the UFC Paramount interview. “He didn’t even say anything bad. He called him short, you know. Obviously, short guys get mad when you call them short. What did I say? I said he’s annoying. I would never want to be in the same room with him. I understand why anybody would leave him. He talks about himself. He walks around and smells his own farts. He thinks he’s God.

“He had a funeral procession for me, you know. So he wants to act like he’s so respectful, but he’s f—–g disrespecting me every chance he’s got. So if that comment made him want to beat me up more, then I don’t know what he was planning on doing before. When it comes to it, I never spoke ill of him. If anything, I was defending his wife. You know, I don’t think I can understand this. This motherf—-r is annoying. He never shuts up, and he’s always talking about himself. That s–t’s annoying.”

On the surface, it might appear that Justin Gaethje tried to take a dig at Ilia Topuria’s controversial divorce with his ex-wife Giorgina Uzcategui. However, it’s more likely that the two-time interim lightweight champion’s criticism stemmed from a different perspective.

Though ahead of the UFC White House event Topuria refrained from any trash talk, he uploaded a clip of himself presenting a special white rose to Gaethje’s photo alongside Volkanovski, Holloway, and Oliveira. It was a subtle way to hint that Gaethje would be his next victim. Those antics most likely got under the skin of the two-time interim champion. As a result, Gaethje, who is known for not indulging in reckless trash talk with his opponents just to sell fights, decided to take the rivalry to a whole other level this time around.

Now, as the Topuria-Gaethje rivalry turns heated, Daniel Cormier believes that the former BMF champ going personal with the lightweight champion was actually a good thing. The UFC legend, who is good friends with Gaethje, said that the White House card main event lacked the sting of animosity that Gaethje successfully provided with his personal remarks.

Regardless, Justin Gaethje’s words definitely struck a nerve with Topuria, as he fired back with a fiery response of his own.

Ilia Topuria issues a fiery response to Justin Gaethje after the rivalry turns heated 

For Ilia Topuria, his divorce proceeding was perhaps one of the most difficult points of his personal life. So, when Gaethje landed a personal jab about his divorce, Topuria advised ‘The Highlight’ to act “better.”

“Justin crossed a line,” Ilia Topuria wrote on X. “What happened between my ex-wife and me is our business. We may no longer be together, but she is the mother of my daughter. To everyone insulting her or speaking about things they know nothing about: show some respect. You don’t have to respect our relationship. But respecting someone’s mother should be one of the most basic codes in life. Be better.” 

But that’s not all. The lightweight champion also flipped the double bird at Gaethje during the recent UFC White House embedded episode, showing that he would not hold back when the time came to throw hands.

With Topuria and Gaethje engaging in a heated rivalry, the path to UFC Freedom 250 is looking increasingly intriguing as the fierce animosity continues to brew between the two lightweights.