Justin Gaethje takes aim at Ilia Topuria as he plots his path to the UFC White House card

Justin Gaethje wants to feature on the UFC White House card as the undisputed lightweight champion and knows he has to get past Ilia Topuria for that to happen. 'The Highlight' recently outlined his future fight plans and claimed he was better positioned for a title shot against Topuria than Arman Tsarukyan.

Last month, Gaethje made it clear that he didn't appreciate being left out of the title picture after Islam Makhachev vacated the championship and threatened to retire if he wasn't given an opportunity to win UFC gold. Topuria ultimately won the 155-pound belt after beating Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 last month.

During a recent Q&A session, Gaethje reiterated his plans to fight for the lightweight title against Topuria and potentially compete on the UFC White House card:

"That's the fight that I want. Obviously, I'm biased. I'm going to fight for what I feel like I deserve... We're all biased toward ourselves. It's me or Arman. I believe somebody has to fight him this year, and I think I'm in a better spot than Arman. I hope it's at MSG, New York City. I get to fight him, and I get to defend it on the White House lawn."

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Catch Justin Gaethje's comments below (5:12):

Ilia Topuria doesn't believe Justin Gaethje fight would interest fans

Ilia Topuria recently shared his thoughts on a potential Justin Gaethje fight and urged the newer, younger fighters to step up. While Topuria was open to facing 'The Highlight' in the future, he didn't think it would be an interesting fight for fans to watch.

In an interview with ESPN MMA, 'El Matador' opened up about Gaethje's callout and the future of the 155-pound division:

"I don't think we have anyone else in the division. Fighting against Justin Gaethje, I don't think that's going to be something exciting for the fans. We need new blood in the division. We need new faces, new guys that come hungrier than the guys that we are used to seeing in the past, like Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, or the other guys. I want to bring new faces to the game." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Watch the full interview below:

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Edited by Nishant Zende.