Former interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje believes that Khabib Nurmagomedov is truly retired from MMA. With that being the case, he hopes to get a crack at the title against the winner of an upcoming key lightweight matchup.
Many people thought that Gaethje could be the one to give Khabib trouble inside the Octagon. Although he became just the second man to take a round from the lightweight champ, Khabib would end up submitting Justin with little issue. Following the fight, Khabib revealed that he was retiring from MMA after making a promise that he would not compete without his recently deceased father.
View this post on Instagram
Justin Gaethje Believes Khabib’s Retirement, Wants Title Shot
Despite Khabib being adamant that he was no longer going to be fighting, Dana White refuses to accept this and strip him of the title. However Justin Gaethje tends to believe the Dagestani’s retirement. Speaking in a recent interview, he explained that save for a mega fight with GSP, we will likely never see Nurmagomedov in the cage again. Therefore he hopes to get the shot at the vacant title, against the winner of the upcoming rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.
“I think he’s retired from competing, other than maybe his big farewell, like a GSP or something like that. But other than that, I don’t think he’s going to be fighting for a championship anymore,” Gaethje explained. “I’m number one. So of course I want to fight for that f–king belt, that’s why I’m here. Poirier and McGregor are fighting soon, I want to fight the winner of that. I fully believe that you should be coming off a win to get a belt, so my job now is to get a win.”
Would you like to see Justin Gaethje face the McGregor vs Poirier winner for the lightweight title? Do you agree with him that Khabib is likely retired?
