The lightweight title unification bout at UFC White House was already highly anticipated, but Justin Gaethje took things to a whole new level just a few days ago. After ‘The Highlight’ took a direct jab at his opponent’s recent divorce, Ilia Topuria has responded with a scary social media post.

The unbeaten athlete posted a video of himself aggressively tearing up the pads on Instagram in preparation for his fight, along with a heated statement in Spanish.

“Someone is going to stop talking very soon when they get a taste of these hands,” the translated caption read.

To make things even more interesting, ‘El Matador’ even changed his social media bio to read 18-0 not too long ago, suggesting that Justin Gaethje’s low blow has only fueled his supreme, unshakable confidence.

The bad blood originally began to boil over last week when Gaethje’s father made the confident prediction that ‘The Highlight’ had already mastered fighting “short guys.” While the fight promotion had been fairly respectful up until that point, once the comment from the father surfaced, as expected, Ilia Topuria didn’t take kindly to the family commentary.

“Father’s hope. Champions know,” he wrote on X. “I’ve heard this story before: bigger men, stronger men, better men. Men who said I was just a small guy who was about to get a lesson in humility. They all learned the truth the same way.

“Your son already knows who I am. On June 14th, you will too. 18-0 PAPA.”

In retaliation, Justin Gaethje responded by weaponizing the Georgian-Spaniard’s separation from his ex-wife during an interview with Fox Sports Australia earlier this week.

“All that guy is is a gimmick,” he said. “He calls himself the king. He thinks he’s a God. What an annoying little b—-. I couldn’t imagine being in a room with him for 30 minutes listening to him talk about himself.

“All I can say is this: I would leave him. That’s all I’m saying. No way would I put up with his s—.”

Ilia Topuria took a break at the end of last year to deal with that exact “difficult moment in his personal life,” which allowed ‘The Highlight’ to win the interim belt in January. Now that Justin Gaethje has used that vulnerable time away as promotional ammunition, the mental warfare has taken a whole new level.

But mind games clearly aren’t sweating the 29-year-old kingpin of the division, who is already looking past fight night to focus on his post-fight victory plans.

Ilia Topuria is back manifesting a win ahead of the Justin Gaethje fight

As usual, Ilia Topuria’s self-confidence is so astronomically high that he is willing to break the golden rule of combat sports: never look past your opponent. During a recent ESPN interview ahead of his unification bout, ‘El Matador’ claims he already has a massive plan in motion just a night before the fight.

“We are going to celebrate before the fight,” Topuria said. “Actually, we have everything organized. My team is already taking care of that.”

Bizarre as it may seem, pulling off these types of mind games is actually becoming a hallmark of Ilia Topuria’s career. Ahead of his UFC 298 fight against Alexander Volkanovski in 2024, he famously changed his social media bio to “world champion” before the belt was even on his waist.

‘El Matador’ raised the stakes even higher before facing Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June last year, throwing a full-fledged victory celebration with family and friends the day before the fight. Notably, both fights ended with his opponents laid out flat on the canvas.

Hence, with the Gaethje fight too, this type of supreme arrogance will undoubtedly be on full display throughout fight week. While looking past a dangerous knockout artist like Justin Gaethje is a huge risk, Ilia Topuria has proven time and again that he enjoys the pressure—and it is only going to bother ‘The Highlight’ even more before they finally settle the score in Washington, D.C on June 14.