Justin Gaethje responds to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s supposed diss reply, while sending a message to Islam Makhachev.
In a very uncharacteristic move, Khabib Nurmagomedov wrote a rather disrespectful message directed at fellow Dominance MMA fighter Justin Gaethje. The conversation was about the next title contender at 155 pounds, which “The Eagle” says should go to his close comrade Islam Makhachev.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23007557/Image_from_iOS_52.jpeg)
As someone who’s known Khabib for a while, Gaethje refuses to believe it was the former champ who wrote the said message. And he has a theory on who it could possibly be.
“I still don’t believe it was him writing those messages. It was way too proper of English,” Gaethje told comedians Jim Norton and Bobby Kelly during a recent appearance on UFC Unfiltered.
“Not ever once in the history of his… And then people wanna say it’s Ali Abdelaziz. He has much less chance of writing a proper sentence in this form than even Khabib does. It wasn’t either one of them.
I honestly do not believe it’s @TeamKhabib saying this stuff. He got someone else running that shit or something.
— Justin Gaethje (@Justin_Gaethje) November 12, 2021
“If I had to guess, I would say it was Rizvan Magomedov, the dude that helps Ali with the Russian dudes.”
Gaethje never felt obligated to respond to such comments. But he does have a message for the number four-ranked Makhachev.
“I really shouldn’t even reply ‘cause it doesn’t f—ng matter what they think. At the end of the day, that dude Makhachev fought number 14, went to number five, and fought a late replacement, Dan Hooker. It wasn’t Dan Hooker on a full camp. It does not count as much, but it still — I’ll give him — it’s two top 15 guys, none in the top five, and only one in the top ten.
“That’s not how this shit works. Do your f—ng job, fight these guys. Beneil Dariush is right here. And I like the dude, he’s my friend, that’s why, it’s, like, you’re not just gonna jump over this man and expect to get a title shot when the number three guy is Beneil Dariush. Handle that.”
The number three-ranked Dariush (21-4-1) holds a huge win over former interim champion Tony Ferguson, whom he defeated at UFC 262 in May. He’s currently on a seven-fight win streak.