Justin Gaethje wants to face the winner of Conor McGregor v Dustin Poirier - but hopes to find another opponent to beat before then.
'The Highlight' lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October, with the Russian announcing his retirement from MMA after the bout in Abu Dhabi.
McGregor faces Poirier next month and Gaethje hopes to take on the winner of that bout for the lightweight title, when the UFC decide to vacate it following Nurmagomedov's retirement.
Speaking to The Schmo, Gaethje said: “I’m number one so of course I want to fight for that f*cking belt, that’s why I’m here.
“Poirier and McGregor are fighting soon so I want to fight the winner of that. I wholeheartedly believe you should be coming off a win to fight for a belt. So my job now is to get a win.”
He added: “I want to fight for the belt and if it is the winner of that fight then I would, in turn, need to beat somebody first. But, I’ll definitely just fight the winner for the belt, I’m down with that, too.”
Meanwhile, McGregor's manager believes the Dubliner is in the best condition he has ever been in for next month's fight.
Audie Attar told The National: "This is the best Conor I've seen ever, and I've been with him almost a decade now.
"It's the mental fortitude, the emotional intelligence, the self-awareness, the time he's spending with his kids in between sessions and what that does to him.
"It's the reflection of everything that's happened to us to date - the good, the bad and the ugly - having a level of wherewithal and foresight to understand what we need to do going forward to achieve the goals we have now."
Attar also indicated that McGregor could face boxing great Manny Pacquiao after his bout with Poirier.
He added: “There’s no way Conor’s looking past Dustin, so he’s just trying to focus on what he can control. But the fans want it – there’s serious interest from all fans from all around the world – and both fighters want it. It’s hard not to make it happen.
“Manny Pacquiao sees Conor McGregor as a real threat and a real formidable opponent. And he has his own plans politically; he’s a machine in what he does.
"Either of them isn’t trying to go fight YouTubers next.
“At the end of the day, I don’t see why it shouldn’t happen. As we saw in 2020, you can never count anything out any more, but right now the intention is for that to happen in 2021.”
