Justin Gaethje was reportedly “pissed” after being passed up for a lightweight title fight with Ilia Topuria.
Immediately after announcing that Islam Makhachev had vacated his 155-pound belt to move up and challenge newly minted welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena, Dana White revealed that former featherweight king Ilia Topuria would fight Charles Oliviera at UFC 317 on June 29, the winner leaving Las Vegas as the next lightweight world titleholder.
After winning three straight in his division, including a pair of victories over Rafael Fiziev, Gaethje figured he was the next man in line for a shot at the gold.
Especially considering Oliveira’s last two appearances inside the Octagon resulted in a loss to Arman Tsarukyan and a decision win over perpetual punching bag Michael Chandler.
“He was pissed,” UFC play-by-play man, Jon Anik, said of Gaethje on The Anik & Florian Podcast. “He feels like certainly he was passed over in favor of Charles Oliveira for this opportunity against Ilia Topuria and I think what Justin Gaethje and his manager Ali Abdelaziz are looking for is just some sort of guarantee that they will be next because it’s May 19 and the good news for this Topuria-Oliveira fight is that it’s June 28, it’s less than six weeks away.”
Jon Anik thinks Justin Gaethje’s request for a ‘guaranteed’ title fight is reasonable
With International Fight Week right around the corner, chances are the UFC is already eyeing potential challengers for the winner of Topuria vs. Oliveira. And with no clear-cut contender in place, aside from Tsarukyan who’s still in the UFC dog house, Anik doesn’t think Gaethje’s request is all that unreasonable.
“I don’t think it’s a crazy request for Justin,” Anik continued. “Having done what he did against Rafael Fiziev, staying on the fight card, not fighting Dan Hooker, getting a win, distance from the UFC 300 result — and by the way, he fought at UFC 300 to help the UFC when he could have fought for the undisputed championship at that point in time.
“So I wouldn’t be surprised if Gaethje gets some sort of guarantee that he’s next for the Topuria-Oliveira winner. But I can just tell you Justin was not thrilled.”
