Justin Gaethje isn’t happy at the prospect of conceding his long-awaited chance at lightweight glory to Conor McGregor. Gaethje told TMZ that he would make Conor McGregor’s famous 2018 tantrum – in which the Irishman threw a trolley at a bus containing rival Khabib Nurmagomedov – look like child’s play.
“I’d burn it all down. F*cking burn it down, that’s what I’d do. [Conor] is so irrelevant. He has not won a fight since 2016 in the lightweight division. I’m ranked No. 1. [in the UFC]. I saw they updated the rankings, I’m No. 1 now, that feels pretty good.
Gaethje Promises to “Burn it all Down” if “Irrelevant” McGregor Gets Title Shot
My whole life I’ve been working towards this. That’s what’s next. If not, I f*cking burn it down. It doesn’t matter. I’ll show up and start throwing dollies everywhere. I don’t know what the answer is.”
Gaethje makes a decent point regarding McGregor. Although Conor once held the UFC lightweight championship, his last win at lightweight was, to date, his only win at lightweight.
Admittedly, this came in the form of arguably his finest career performance, against then-champion Eddie Alvarez. Conor McGregor managed to defeat Alvarez, earning himself the lightweight belt, and becoming the first ever simultaneous two-division champion in UFC history.
However, since then, McGregor’s record at lightweight has been abysmal. Conor lost a title challenge against Khabib Nurmagomedov, and this year failed twice to defeat Dustin Poirier. McGregor’s sole victory – across all combat sports – in the past five years was against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, at 170 pounds.
Gaethje pointed out that there are far more deserving names in the UFC ranks than McGregor, and he wants to see them thrive before Conor gets another shot at UFC gold. In fact, even if Gaethje wins himself a belt, he’d rather run through the rest of the lightweight ranks than face an, in his eyes, undeserving Conor McGregor.
“I would absolutely not allow him to fight for the title if he did not win and go through the process. He’s not going to sh*t on everything. There’s too many [guys], Beneil Dariush, Islam Makhachev, those are the guys that I would fight, not Conor McGregor. That’s not how this works.
He’s becoming more and more irrelevant as time goes on. Pretty soon you won’t even be asking me these questions. It’s going to be a beautiful f*cking day.”
Justin Gaethje is now ranked #1 lightweight contender following Dustin Poirier’s defeat at the champ Charles Oliveira’s hands at UFC 269. He expects to fight for the title early in 2022.
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