With the lightweight division starting to take shape, it appears Justin Gaethje has been left out of the picture.
Since Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement, a few key matchups have been booked at 155 pounds. Michael Chandler is set to face Charles Oliveira for the vacant title, Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor are projected to settle their trilogy, and Tony Ferguson will meet the streaking Beneil Dariush.
But where does that leave Gaethje? “The Highlight” is coming off a second-round submission loss to then-lightweight champ Nurmagomedov at UFC 254 in October, but remains at the top of the division’s rankings.
In a recent interview with Raptors MMA, Gaethje vented his frustration, as he expressed his disappointment towards his current situation with the UFC.
“Who knows, man,” Gaethje said. “I can’t talk about it a lot right now. I’m sure me talking about it is the reason I’m here in the past. Who knows? Maybe I p*ssed someone off, I don’t know. All I know is since I was 12, 13 years old, I listened to Dana White do his interviews and explain what he wanted in a fighter, and I’m that motherf*cker.
“If I get disrespected, it’s gonna be hurtful because I really bought in to what that man talked about. So yeah, it’ll hurt because I feel like I’m a company man from Day 1. I don’t ever wanna go anywhere else, I don’t ever want to fight anywhere else. But my principles are the most important thing to me, so we’ll see what happens.”
Prior to the Nurmagomedov loss, Gaethje (22-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) had notched four straight stoppage wins, including a victory over Tony Ferguson to capture the interim lightweight title at UFC 249. He has thrilled fans with his exciting style, and has claimed nine post-fight bonuses in eight octagon appearances. Gaethje recently revealed that he was in talks to fight Chandler, but the UFC ultimately opted to match Chandler with Oliveira for the vacant 155-pound strap, leaving him with few options for his next bout.
