Justin Gaethje was thought by many to be the next man up for Islam Makhachev following UFC 294’s shocking conclusion, but it appears that Dana White has different plans.
Returning to the Octagon in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night, the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ added another highlight-reel finish to his resume, scoring a vicious first-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski with a perfectly timed head kick. Taking care of business in just over three minutes, Makhachev could look to get right back inside the cage and add another name to his hit list.
Initially, everyone, including Gaethje, thought that he would be next in line. ‘The Highlight’ even indicated as such on X shortly after the UFC 294 headliner.
“Heck of a performance by Islam,” Gaethje wrote. “I have a mountain to climb.”
Heck of a performance by Islam. I have a mountain to climb.
— Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@Justin_Gaethje) October 21, 2023
If Not Justin Gaethje, Then Who?
If that weren’t clear enough, Gaethje offered up a much more direct post that simply read, ‘I’m next.’ However, UFC CEO Dana White appears to have another plan in mind.
“Listen, you gotta give it to Oliveira,” White said during the post-fight press event. “Oliveira’s ready to go. Unfortunately, he got cut. I think you give it to Oliveira, but again, these are all questions I can’t really answer right now. We get home, we figure stuff out, and see what’s next for everybody.”
But if Oliveira is back at the front of the line, where does that leave Justin Gaethje? Asked by one reporter what the plans are for ‘The Highlight’ and perennial contender Dustin Poirier, White said:
“We have plans for Poirier and Gaethje. Yeah, of course we do.”
White did not elaborate on what those plans could be, but he indicated that some announcements would be coming on Monday and/or Tuesday now that UFC 294 is in the books.
If it were up to Makhachev, he would prefer to see both Oliveira and Gaethje fight each other to establish a clear-cut number-one contender.
“I’m pretty sure that after this fight, there’s already two definite opponents that are ready for a fight with me,” Makhachev said at Wednesday’s UFC 294 media day. “I think the two of them should fight each other so we have an actual No. 1 contender for the belt.”
Watch Dana White’s full post-fight press appearance below:
