UFC lightweight title contender Justin Gaethje wasn’t too happy to see Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler fight for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s vacated title earlier this year.
He told The Schmo that he believed he should have had the opportunity, considering his success in the division, and compared his situation at the time to that of Cory Sandhagen, who will challenge for the interim bantamweight belt at the end of this month.
Justin Gaethje Believes He Should Have Had Vacant Lightweight Title Shot
“#1 fought #5, #3 fought #4, and if you were #2, you got fucked. It just so happened that my name was next to that #2 spot. It is what it is. I was the most recent interim titleholder. You know, I see both ways to it.
From the outside, being me, yeah I was not happy. If I’m on the inside and I’m running a $4 billion company, $5 or $6 billion company, then I probably want to try and have people forget about that guy.
They did what they wanted to do, had to do in their eyes. I was upset, but it doesn’t matter. Gotta go on and gotta keep working.”
Justin Gaethje had just come off a second-round submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was the undefeated lightweight champion. Nurmagomedov announced his retirement immediately after the Gaethje fight, creating a power vacuum at the top of the lightweight division.
Despite the UFC’s best efforts, they were unable to tempt Khabib into a return, and Charles Oliveira ended up defeating Michael Chandler to claim the belt. Now, Justin Gaethje will face Chandler, but he believes it should have been him in the ring with Oliveira at the start of the year.
“I lost. I don’t think you should get a title shot off a loss. But I think the circumstances were special. Similar to the circumstances that got Cory Sandhagen his title fight. He came off a loss and he’s jumped in there for a title fight.
And the guy (Aljamain Sterling) didn’t retire. There were even more special circumstances in that [Khabib vacating the belt]. There’s other examples of people getting shots off of losses. So yeah, I thought that was a bullshit way to say I shouldn’t get it.”
All of this doesn’t change Gaethje’s title plans. When it comes to he Chandler fight, his approach is simple. “I go out there and get the dub on Nov. 6 and I will be fighting the winner of Poirier and Oliveira.”
Maybe Justin Gaethje will get his title shot after all. Do you think Gaethje should have fought for Khabib’s vacant lightweight title? Let us know in the comments.
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