LONDON, United Kingdom – After yet another “fight of the night” performance at UFC 286 with Rafael Fiziev, Justin Gaethje is looking for a big fight in what he calls his final title fight in the UFC.
“I did what I had to do, I fought people ranked below me and I believed 100% that I should fight people ranked above me. Losers of (Charles) Oliveira and (Beneil) Dariush fights. I Would rather not fight Dariush, I like that guy,” Gaethje told reporters, including Cageside Press, at the postgame scrum.
“I think he’s going to beat Olivia. When I played against Oliveira, I played like an idiot, so I was tempted to fight back, but Dustin (Poirier) is also a good option.”
Gaethje (24-4) has only lost to a champion or former champion in the UFC. A rematch with one of them alongside the retired Khabib Nurmagomedov seems to make sense for the former title challenger.
Even current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who recently defended his title against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284.
“I think he’s similar to Khabib, but he’s not Khabib. I know that’s true. For the one he’s done before, he has a loss, but it’s going to be a very tough fight,” he said.
The fight with Fiziev was so close that after a bloody 5-round battle, the judges voted in favor of Gaethje by a majority.
“He was impressive. It was impressive, but I fought such a good fight. His kicks didn’t work. I blocked a lot of those shots with my elbow. My elbow is really swollen now, “He said.
“The damage I can do…he wants to taste blood. He wants to taste my blood, but unfortunately (for him) he’s drowning in his blood. I’m happy about that.”
In his post-fight interview, Gaethje mentioned that he doesn’t want to fight for long after his last title fight in the UFC, which begs the question of how long he actually wants to fight.
“It’s not what I think. It’s just the truth. I’m 34 years old. I’m going to fight the fights I need to get to where I want to be. In this sport, there are countless reasons why you can’t run faster than you It should run for a long time,” Gaethje said.
“Yes, I might refuse to do that.”
Watch Justin Gaethje’s entire postgame brawl above.