Justin Gaethje had hoped to fight for lightweight gold instead of facing Max Holloway in his return to the Octagon at UFC 300.
In an interview on “The Highlights,” Gaethje expressed his disappointment after the announcement that the BMF title would be on the line against Max Holloway. He had expected his next fight to be for the lightweight championship.
“It’s always interesting how that works out,” Gaethje said. Kevin Iall. “You always think it’s going to go one way and you can never predict what will happen in the UFC. When the match between Oliveira and Tsarukian was announced, I was confident that I would win the match with Makhachev Because obviously I didn’t think there was anyone else to fight him. …I don’t know what’s going on. It’s an injury or something, but I don’t think he’ll fight until June or July.”
“I had the impression that a fight with Dustin Poirier was just as much of a title miss as this Tsarukian-Oliveira match, if not a title miss for sure. Now I’m like them. Fighting on the card, I’m obviously going to be better than them, all four of us, you know, me, Max, Tsarikan, Oliveira, we all have a chance to stand out. ”h/t MMA Junkie).
Although Gaethje is fighting outside the lightweight division, defeating him could disrupt Islam Makhachev’s claim to be the next contender. Gaethje sees this as an opportunity to prove himself among the best fighters and re-establish his position as a top contender.
“I think this is a great opportunity,” Gaethje continued. “I think it’s obviously the next best thing for them to line me up with Makhachev. That’s the best scenario. The next best scenario is that I can fight for that, and that’s the scenario I’m in. You can get in there and stand out. There are two candidates scheduled to appear that night. So let’s see what happens after that.”
Justin Gaethje talks about his struggle with Max Holloway on ‘To Be’
Justin Gaethje has respect for Max Holloway, and he didn’t want to be in a position where he had to fight him. However, Gaethje acknowledges that sometimes in the fight game, things don’t always go as planned.
He expressed, “I kind of created this by accident. I said, ‘I didn’t want to punch Max Holloway, but he’s also the guy who can fight for the BMF belt.’ It ends up having to punch Max Holloway. That’s the name of the game, I’m the best in the world at doing damage.”
