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UFC superstar Justin Gaethje would like to avenge his loss to Dustin Poirier in a potential rematch.
The former interim lightweight champion has been on the sidelines since his last outing against Charles Oliveira in May at UFC 274. Oliveira had missed weight by half a pound and was ineligible for the title, leaving room for Gaethje to take the belt home. However, he could not manage to do so as Oliveira secured an opening-round finish in one of the most exciting rounds of all time.
Following the second failed shot at undisputed gold, Gaethje took time off to undergo surgery for his nose and was expected to sit out for the rest of the year. Being a top-ranked contender who has already exhausted two title shots, getting a third one could be difficult for the human ‘Highlight’ reel.
Given the current state of the 155-pound division, Gaethje does not have suitable options that will get him back in the mix of title contention. Top contender Oliveira is set to take on Islam Makhachev for the title at UFC 280 next month. Rising prospects Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot will compete on the same card as well.
Meanwhile, Poirier is scheduled to settle his differences with Michael Chandler at UFC 281 on Nov. 12 in New York.
Ahead of his return to competition, Gaethje shared his take on who he could potentially line up with.
“There’s pretty big fights going on,” Gaethje told MMA Mania. “The championship, Beneil and Gamrot, you got Chandler and Poirier. Someone’s gotta fight the winners and losers of all these fights. I don’t think I should fight the winner of the title fight but I can fight the winner of any other of those fighters. I don’t want to fight Beneil.
Gaethje Is Looking to Rematch Poirier if He Wins at UFC 281
Gaethje took on Poirier in his third outing under the UFC banner in Apr. 2018. Poirier managed to come out on top with a fourth-round TKO finish in an exciting show that ended up being the first runner-up for Fight of the Year.
According to Gaethje, avenging his loss to Poirier could help him get back in the picture for a title shot.
“He’s ranked No. 1 or No. 2,” Gaethje said. “I need two-three wins to get back to the title shot so that would be ideal. I told them I’d be ready next year so we’ll see how it goes.”
“Ideally, Poirier beats Chandler, I’d like to fight Poirier,” he added. “I mean, he beat me. That’s one win I’d like to get back. It was Fight of the Year, Fight of the Decade — Fight of a Couple Years, probably. That was a hell of a fight. That’s ideal.”
Poirier is a ‘big fan’ of a possible bout with Gaethje
In an interview with Heavy, CELSIUS-sponsored athlete Poirier shared his thoughts on taking on the human ‘Highlight’ reel once again inside the cage.
“Yeah, we had Fight of the Year or might have been the runner-up for the Fight of the Year in 2018 when we fought,” Poirier said. “That’s another stylistic fight that the fans would love to see and it’s going to be chaos in there. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens. I think Justin just had surgery and he’s going to come back maybe at the end of the year or the beginning of next year. We’ll see how he looks when he returns but I’m a big fan of his as well.”
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