Justin Gaethje was last seen in action at UFC Fight Night Philadelphia, defeating Edson Barboza by first round knockout.
The fighter is looking to get a shot at the UFC Lightweight Title and believes fights against two of the divisions best will get him that opportunity.
“I believe the winner of tonight, deservedly so, gets a shot at Khabib, and I want to put myself in position to fight the winner of that fight,” Gaethje said following UFC 236 (via Dave Doyle & Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie). “I think Tony (Ferguson) and Conor (McGregor) do that for me.”
Gaethje does sit at #5 in the UFC Lightweight Division rankings, with Ferguson and McGregor both ahead of him.
One thing Gaethje believes is that McGregor doesn’t deserve a title shot, so Gaethje says its down to him and Ferguson for that next opportunity.
“I want to know what my path is, and you can’t do that by saying I’m retired and being in the rankings and being ranked ahead of me,” Gaethje said. “If you’re ranked ahead of me, you’re fighting for the title. He doesn’t deserve a title shot right now, so therefore it’s me or its Tony, and he has to pick one of us to fight.”
Newly crowned UFC Interim Lightweight Champion Dustin Poirier and UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov are expected to clash next, giving Gaethje and his two targets plenty of time to figure out who would be next after that.
