Justin Gaethje is done doing the UFC favors.
During a recent interview with Submission Radio, Gaethje’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, revealed that ‘The Highlight’ was strongly considering retirement if his next fight isn’t for a UFC title.
While you can usually take anything Abdelaziz says with a grain of salt, Gaethje offered some insight into his frustration, believing that the promotion owes him a title opportunity after he saved their asses with the Holloway fight at UFC 300.
“They owe me a championship fight,” Gaethje said on The Makeshift Podcast. “I’m 3-1 in my last four. They came to my house begging me to fight Max Holloway at UFC 300. I consider that an exhibition fight. I don’t mean that the loss is not on my record. I mean it had nothing to do with rankings. In the time that I did that, Dustin Poirier, who I just beat, got a good win over (Benoit) Saint Denis and then fought for the belt
“Since I’ve won (vs. Fiziev), the champion has been saying he wants to fight me. So they could have easily set that up, but they didn’t. Then he vacates, and then Oliveira is 2-2 in his last fights, already has a loss to Makhachev, and they bring a brand-new guy in, and I get f*cked again. So I’m not going to fight any of these motherf*ckers for fun unless they pay me so much more money.”
Justin Gaethje will have his sights set on UFC 317 title clash between Oliveira and Topuria
Gaethje may have a point, but with Arman Tsarukyan still sitting as the division’s top-ranked contender and Topuria calling for a fight with “pain in the ass” Paddy Pimblett, ‘The Highlight’ may be waiting awhile.
Regardless, Gaethje will have his eyes on the highly anticipated lightweight title tilt between Topuria and ex-champion Charles Oliveira, who will battle it out for the vacant crown at UFC 317 on June 27 during International Fight Week.
