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Justin Gaethje is confident Conor McGregor will fight him next.
Justin Gaethje has been campaigning for a fight with Conor McGregor for what feels like an eternity, and ‘The Highlight’ thinks ‘The Notorious’ may finally be warming up to the idea.
McGregor beat Donald Cerrone via TKO this past Saturday at UFC 246 and, while ‘The Notorious’ didn’t call out Gaethje in his post-fight interview, SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh said he would like to see McGregor take on the former WSOF lightweight champion at 170 pounds in his next bout.
“Justin Gaethje at 170. That would be my personal preference, because he’s another lightweight,” Kavanagh told Ariel Helwani in a recent interview.
Gaethje isn’t sure on the weight class, but he knows McGregor will be calling the shots.
“Ultimately that dude makes his own decisions, and I think he has more confidence now,” Gaethje said on the Punchlines Podcast (h/t MMA Fighting). “He needed a win. So yeah, I think he’ll fight me now.”
Gaethje is on a three-fight KO streak and, while he could have attended UFC 246 to grab McGregor’s attention from ringside, the Colorado-based fighter would prefer to let his fists do the talking.
“To be a superstar you have to win and you have to have something special,” he said. “For me, I hope that knocking people out is my something special because I can’t sell myself, per se, and become a different person on camera and a different person off camera…
“Ultimately, I think it could hurt me in the long run, just not wanting to take that route. I could have been there [at UFC 246]. I could have been front row. I could have made a scene, but I don’t know. And maybe I’ll miss an opportunity because I wasn’t there.”
Gaethje last fought at UFC Fight Night 158, where he KO’d Cerrone in the first round. The 31-year-old knockout artist is currently ranked #3 in the UFC lightweight rankings.