Justin Gaethje doesn’t plan to stay in the UFC for a long-time
Interim UFC Lightweight Champion Justin Gaethje was the latest guest on the Joe Rogan Experience.
The American shocked the world with his dominant display over Tony Ferguson recently. That win landed him the interim title, and he should be facing Khabib Nurmagomedov for the undisputed title.
Khabib is the current champion and is undefeated in the UFC, but Gaethje wants to fight others too.
Rogan was highlighting that Gaethje’s goal was to fight McGregor next and one more opponent before leaving:
“Fight [Dustin Poirier] and get the **** out of here.
“That’s all I need. What would I need after that?
“That would be legendary, I would make a lot of money, which is what I’m here to do and to be in control of my destiny, which is all I ask for.”
Gaethje did highlight that fighting Khabib and then McGregor could also bring him a lot of money. However, the interim UFC Lightweight champion wasn’t also that fixated on McGregor:
“If Conor’s not there, I’ll fight Poirier. He’s not on my list, Khabib and Poirier are the two on my list right now. If I fight those two with big paydays, I’m good.”
Gaethje certainly has championship pedigree as he held a title in the previous promotion he was in.
Fighting McGregor always brings in the crowd, and it will be interesting to see if he does stick to the two fights he has in his mind.
The 31-year-old did lose to Dustin Poirier in his early UFC days but has been excellent ever since.
Gaethje has won four consecutive bouts and he will be a true test for Khabib. McGregor, for his part, has dabbled in the Welterweight division, and there are rumblings of him getting a shot at Kamaru Usman’s title.
Gaethje does have a lot of options at the moment, and as he said, he now controls his destiny and could call for which fight he wants.
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