Justin Gaethje states the title match between Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira turned the lightweight belt into a laughing stock
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Justin Gaethje on Michael Chandler
Justin Gaethje hasn’t competed since losing the title unification bout to Khabib Nurmagomedov back in 2020. Now that he is booked to face another title challenger Michael Chandler at UFC 268, he spoke about many things that bothered him during his absence.
Gaethje recently appeared in an interview with Brett Okamoto from ESPN, where he said the title match between Oliveira and Chandler was totally unfair, and he and Poirier should have been the ones competing instead.
He said, “I think this was the most coveted title in the UFC when Khabib was around. It was turned into almost the laughing stock of the UFC overnight. When you had Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler fighting for the title, to be honest, when those two weren’t the best guys fighting for the belt. It was me and Poirier, is who should have been fighting for the belt. Number one, number two. That’s what should’ve happened.”
“I should have got that title shot. So I was a little bitter,” Justin Gaethje accepts he was unhappy with UFC’s decision
Gaethje has never been the one to back away from challenges, and he was not happy with UFC’s decision to give the newcomer a title shot instead of him, he said, “Especially being the last guy to hold the interim title. You know, the guy retires. I understand having to win and all that, but nobody wants to talk about the special circumstances.”
He added, “Like this dude was the GOAT and he retired. I was sitting at number two with the last guy to hold the thing. So in my mind, probably biased, but you know I think I should have got that title shot. So I was a little bitter.”
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Suryansh Thakur
(1600 Articles Published)