Justin Gaethje accepted the Tony Ferguson fight on short notice

UFC star Justin Gaethje was speaking to Dan Hardy about his upcoming fight on 9 May.

The American faces Tony Ferguson for the interim UFC Lightweight title. However, he was a replacement for Khabib Nurmagomedov from the original card.

Khabib is the UFC Lightweight Champion and was to defend his crown against Ferguson. However, the Russian is stuck in his homeland and cannot make the trip to America.

Gaethje spoke about accepting the fight on short notice and claimed he needed at least 12 weeks to prepare for one.

However, this one was pushed to five weeks after the original UFC 249 event was postponed. Hardy asked if Gaethje would accept a fight against Khabib on short notice, but the American wasn’t keen:

“I don’t think I would have taken the Khabib fight on short notice.”

Need more time to prepare

Hardy pressed on why he didn’t want to fight him, even though Gaethje has great wrestling pedigree. Hardy also asked if Gaethje needed to be in top shape to face Khabib, and the American replied:

“Well, there is no difference between that and facing Tony. Match-up wise, I have a better chance of touching Tony’s chin than Khabib’s in the first two-three rounds.”

Gaethje also spoke about the wrestling of Khabib, and said he needed 10 weeks to build up for that kind of match due to the lactic acid being built up.

The American also said that he was preparing for a fight this year and wanted it to be a big one.

The change in schedule would have messed around with Gaethje’s preparations for sure. However, he hasn’t backed down from the clash, and it will be interesting to see how he does against Ferguson.

Ferguson is one of the most unpredictable fighters in the Octagon, and he will be a tough match for Gaethje.

More UFC news

• Jon Jones takes offence to Dominick Reyes’ dog fight comments

• Dominick Cruz promises to demolish Henry Cejudo and ‘friend’ at UFC 250

• Chael Sonnen cannot believe Tony Ferguson made 155 weight cut overnight

Follow our dedicated UFC page for instant UFC news and updates