Justin Gaethje debuted in the UFC in 2017, with a fight of the night and performance of the night earning victory over Michael Johnson, pushing his record to 18-0. However, competing in the UFC is like no other organization on Earth and he lost the next two fights, to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier, but both were fight of the night.
Then “The Highlight” hit his stride, and stopped James Vick, Edson Barboza, Cowboy Cerrone, and Tony Ferguson, winning three more performance of night bonuses, and two more for fight of the night. In the final fight of the four, he won the interim UFC lightweight championship, and the right to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov. Like everyone “The Eagle” ever fought, Gaethje too lost, and he now finds himself ranked #2 at lightweight.
With the official retirement of Nurmagomedov, it was widely believed that Gaethje would fight for the vacated belt. And if Geathje wasn’t in the title fight, it would be because the UFC opted for a money trilogy fight between #1 ranked contender Poirier and Conor McGregor. The #1 ranked Poirier vs. the #2 ranked Gaethje would also makes sense, on paper the most sense.
However, the UFC recently announced that it would be #3 ranked Charles Oliveira vs. #4 ranked Michael Chandler for the belt. Chandler enjoyed a spectacular big show debut, knocking out then #6 ranked Dan Hooker early at UFC 257, but there were real questions as to whether that merits a title shot. But as he made clear in a recent message on his social network, that’s not the reality Gaethje woke up to.
“I woke up yesterday to train for a matchup with Chandler on May 15th expecting a bout agreement any moment,” tweeted Gaethje. “Today that is not the case, I don’t know what I do yet but I like this feeling. It was a good day at sparring practice.”
https://twitter.com/Justin_Gaethje/status/1373081133546496000
The decision is a little hard to understand, but likely hinges in part on the allure of money trilogy fight between Porier and McGregor, and the absurdity of “The Notorious” getting a title shot, with his only win in over four years being over the now unranked Cerrone. So that takes out the #1 contender. The title shot will now go to Oliveira, on an eight-fight win streak, vs. Chandler, who is on a three-fight win streak. Gaethje, one a one-fight losing streak, may well be the first title challenger.
UG, what do you think of the main event at UFC 262: Oliveira vs. Chandler on May 15, and what do you think is next for Geathje?
