Newly-crowned BMF titleholder, Justin Gaethje has been the subject of a call out from the inaugural symbolic champion, Jorge Masvidal despite his April retirement, however, insists the possibility of a UFC showdown between him and the Floridian and slim to none.
Gaethje, the current BMF championship holder, earned the symbolic belt at UFC 291 back in July in Salt Lake City, Utah – defeating Masvidal’s training partner and former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier with a hellacious second round high-kick KO.
For Masvidal, the Miami native called time on his storied mixed martial arts career back in April after the co-main event of UFC 287, suffering a fourth consecutive loss in the form of a decision defeat against Brazilian contender, Gilbert Burns.
Justin Gaethje shuts down idea of BMF title fight with Jorge Masvidal
However, claiming he would snap his retirement from combat sports if Gaethje welcomed the possibility of defending the symbolic title against him, Masvidal’s claims have since been shutdown by the Arizona native, who pointed to the weight discrepancy between them.
“Sounds fun,” Justin Gaethje said during a Q&A session ahead of UFC 293 in Australia. “But I have one goal, it’s the undisputed championship. I have plenty of time after that to fight those fights. I don’t think [Jorge Masvidal is] ever coming back. He looks like he weighs 240 pounds. I fight at 155 pounds, I’m sure he’d want to fight at 170 [pounds].”
Expected to remain sidelined until the conclusion of a title rematch between champion, Islam Makhachev and former titleholder, Charles Oliveira at UFC 294 next month in Abu Dhabi, UAE – with eyes firmly fixed on fighting his Dominance MMA stablemate in another attempt to land undisputed divisional spoils.