Justin Gaethje is currently in limbo when it comes to the UFC lightweight title picture.
A vacant 155-pound belt is on the line in the main event of UFC 317 on June 28, but Gaethje is not one of the main competing for it. Instead, the undefeated Topuria fights former champion Charles Oliveira for the title recently left behind by Islam Makhachev. Topuria recently vacated his own title, the featherweight championship, to chase a second title, while Makhachev is moving up to welterweight to fight newly crowned champion Jack Della Maddalena.
According to UFC broadcaster Jon Anik, who spoke to Gaethje recently, “The Highlight” was not happy to hear the UFC 317 headliner announcement.
“He was pissed,” Anik said on The Anik & Florian Podcast. “He feels like certainly he was passed over in favor of Charles Oliveira for this opportunity against Ilia Topuria and I think what Justin Gaethje and his manager Ali Abdelaziz are looking for is just some sort of guarantee that they will be next because it’s May 19 and the good news for this Topuria-Oliveira fight is that it’s f*cking June 28, it’s less than six weeks away. So I don’t think it’s a crazy request for Justin, having done what he did against Rafael Fiziev, staying on the fight card, not fighting Dan Hooker, getting a win, distance from the UFC 300 result—and by the way, he fought at UFC 300 to help the UFC when he could have fought for the undisputed championship at that point in time—so I wouldn’t be surprised if Gaethje gets some sort of guarantee that he’s next for the Topuria-Oliveira winner.
“But I can just tell you Justin was not thrilled.”
Gaethje is a former interim champion that has won three of his past four fights. In his most recent outing at UFC 313, he won a unanimous decision in a rematch with Rafael Fiziev to bounce back from a brutal knockout loss to Max Holloway at UFC 300. Prior the the Holloway setback, Gaethje scored a head kick knockout of fellow lightweight great Dustin Poirier.
In Oliveira’s most recent fight, he defeated Michael Chandler for a second time. “Do Bronx” has been close to stepping into the cage for another title opportunity, but a fight week injury forced him out of a rematch with Makhachev and then he lost a close split decision to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 289. Oliveira holds a win over Gaethje from their fight at UFC 274, where Oliveira defeated Gaethje by first-round submission.
Anik’s co-host Kenny Florian is hopeful Gaethje eventually crosses paths with Topuria.
“I’m sure Gaethje’s upset, but I think that a fight between him and Topuria would be extremely interesting,” Florian said. “Oliveira, of course, you have to worry about his takedown game. I don’t think Oliveira’s going to trade with Gaethje for too long if possible, but Topuria and Gaethje, that’s guaranteed fireworks. Those guys are going to stand and bang. That is going to deliver for sure and I think we’ll see that at some point. I really do.”
The question for Gaethje now is whether he can afford to wait for the UFC 317 main event winner or if he has to risk his spot in the contender line to stay in the mix. Fast-rising lightweight Paddy Pimblett has mentioned wanting to face Gaethje next, and Anik wonders if that’s the wisest move for Gaethje.
“Straight meritocracy, Charles Oliveira has the higher ranking than Justin Gaethje,” Anik said. “He is the former champion and depending on how you look at recent wins, Michael Chandler, the recent win for Charles Oliveira, I mean both men have a case, but neither is necessarily ironclad. Certainly, both make for compelling matchups against Ilia Topuria, but it does seem like Islam Makhachev is putting out the vacancy sign with finality here.
“Justin Gaethje, I know they would like him to fight Paddy Pimblett, but if you’re Justin Gaethje on the cusp of fighting for the one prize that has eluded you in this sport, what is your number, if you’re Justin Gaethje, to fight down in the rankings? A guy like Paddy Pimblett, that win doesn’t do anything to get him closer to the ultimate goal and even if he beats Paddy Pimblett, unless he comes out super f*cking healthy, it just serves as a further delay. Paddy has talked about his relative appetite for the Gaethje fight, I just am not sure that Justin’s going to be signing on the dotted line for that one.”
