Justin Gaethje has now expressed an interest in defending his newly crowned BMF title against the “Notorious” Conor McGregor.
Following a dramatic second-round knockout win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 291 it appeared as though Justin Gaethje had absolutely no interest in defending his new belt against Conor McGregor.
Gaethje on McGregor.
When asked whether a McGregor fight would be of interest to him at the post-fight presser, Gaethje had this to say:
“I think he’s turned me down six times. And usually, you have to lose to fight him. So I don’t know what’s going on… I fight MMA. I like to fight big fights. I like exciting things, so it sounds pretty exciting to me. I’m not gonna fight someone on steroids. I’ve never taken steroids in my life, never will. Well, maybe when I retire, I might. But I’ve never taken steroids and I don’t want to fight someone that is cheating. And I probably shouldn’t even say that if I want the fight, but it’s the truth.”
Quotes from UFC291 presser and BJPenn.com
McGregor & Gaethje Twitter Exchanges.
In true Conor McGregor style, it didn’t take long before he took to Twitter to take a shot at the newly crowned BMF champion. McGregor tweeted “I KO him one shot. Guarantee it”.
Gaethje responded to McGregor seemingly showing a willingness to make a U-turn on his previous comments and welcoming the prospect of fighting McGregor next. Gaethje tweeted “Sign the contract big boy.”
Within an hour of Gaethje’s response, McGregor simply replied: “Signed”.
Conor McGregor Vs Michael Chandler.
When Conor McGregor announced that he would be returning to the UFC to coach a season of The Ultimate Fighter against fellow lightweight contender Michael Chandler, it was a fight that wet the appetite of fans around the world. McGregor, is coming back from a “doctor stoppage” defeat and back to back defeats at the hands of Dustin Poirier. McGregor is without a win since his TKO victory over Donald Cerrone, back in January 2020.
Michael Chandler is also coming back after a submission loss to Dustin Poirier in November of last year. Chandler is now 2-3 in his UFC career with loses coming to former champ Charles Oliveira, BMF champ Justin Gaethje & Dustin Poirier.
Chandler has undoubtedly been a fantastic addition to the UFC lightweight division. He has delivered some of the most exhilarating fights we have seen in recent times. Despite being on the wrong side of the outcome of those fights, Chandler has proven to be someone that you simply cannot miss when they step inside the octagon.
McGregor, of course, is also absolutely unmissable. The prospect of having these two face off in The Ultimate Fighter and then come face to face with one another by the end of this year was something that fight fans around the world were looking forward to.
Will He? Won’t He?
Following Conor McGregor’s leg break in his bout with Dustin Poirier, Conor was given a “titanium shine bone”. Often when breaks like this happen, steroids are provided to aid a full and healthy rehabilitation. Conor has also been filming a remake of the movie “Road House” and it is fair to say that McGregor has “bulked up”.
With McGregor and Chandler set to go head-to-head, USADA confirmed that McGregor was not yet in the testing pool. Standard procedure states that an athlete must be in the testing pool at least 6 months prior to competition. McGregor and Chandler were expected to fight in either November or December but as the days went by, McGregor failed to enter the testing pool.
This meant that without some kind of special exemption, we would not be seeing McGregor face Chandler this year.
December Date?
Despite McGregor not being in the testing pool in time for a fight this year, McGregor & Chandler both sent out cryptic tweets with a Christmas tree. Fans jumped to assumptions that an exemption had been granted and that a December date must have been agreed.
However, no official statement was made confirming anything of the sort and has led many fans to believe that McGregor is going to look elsewhere for his return fight and leave Chandler high and dry.
The BMF Belt
The Michael Chandler & Conor McGregor fight is seemingly no closer to being signed or announced and it now appears that Conor McGregor has turned his attention to the new BMF champion Justin Gaethje.
Now that Gaethje is a willing participant in making this fight, it seems more and more likely that Michael Chandler is going to miss out on the fight he thought was locked in.
Justin Gaethje against Conor McGregor is an incredibly violent fight for the fans and it is no surprise that Conor would be interested in holding the BMF title. For Justin Gaethje, he is so close now to another crack at the lightweight title. Does he risk that position in a fight with McGregor?
It is a situation that keeps changing and evolving and only time will tell which direction we are going to end up in.
With McGregor eying up the BMF belt, is Michael Chandler set to be left in limbo? Do you believe McGregor Vs Chandler actually happens? Will USADA grant an exemption for McGregor’s return? Does Gaethje risk his chance at the title with a McGregor fight?
Please leave your comments below.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
