Despite coming up on the wrong side of one of the greatest finishes in UFC history, one suspects that Justin Gaethje enjoyed himself in the cage on Saturday night,

In a fight billed ahead of time as a potential Fight of the Year contender on the stacked card in Las Vegas, the ‘BMF’ title bout between Gaethje and Max Holloway more than delivered; with the former featherweight champ scoring a sensational knockout with a single second remaining in the final round in a bout that will without question be enshrined in the UFC’s Hall of Fame one day.

And while it didn’t go his way, Gaethje — who is now 3-3 in his last 6 fights — was more than complimentary to Holloway when he made his first comments on social media in the hours after the fight.

I’m in great spirits with my family. Thanks for all the love. What a sport. @BlessedMMA you’re a dog. Congrats. Well deserved double bonus #ufc300

— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) April 14, 2024

“I’m in great spirits with my family,” Gaethje wrote on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter on Sunday. “Thanks for all the love. What a sport. [Max] you’re a dog. Congrats. Well deserved double bonus.”

The double bonus referred to by Gaethje is the two $300,000 additions to his purse for Performance of the Night and Performance of the Night, as announced by Dana White in the post-fight press conference. Gaethje also earned a single $300k bonus alongside Holloway.

The Hawaiian fighter, meanwhile, who is likely to challenge Ilia Topuria in a 145-pound title bout in his next outing in the cage, issued praise of his own for Gaethje when he spoke to the media, including The Mac Life, afterwards.

“If that’s not a BMF moment, I don’t know what is,” Holloway said of the chaotic final seconds of the fight. “If the cards were flipped and Justin was up. I knew he would give me that 10 second shot.

“This is the type of stuff you do to etch your name in the history books, and I’m just happy that I was the one landing,” he added. “I was getting hurt by the wind off his shots — that’s how hard he hits.”

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