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UFC 254 will be host to one of the biggest lightweight title fights in history, as reigning UFC Lightweight Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov gets set for his return to the Octagon against the interim champion, Justin Gaethje.
In the lead-up to the fight, I had the pleasure of speaking to Justin Gaethje himself as part of the UFC 254 Virtual Media Day and during the conversation, The Highlight opened up on his fight against Tony Ferguson, if a fight against Conor McGregor was offered to him, a rematch against Dustin Poirier, and what Justin Gaethje will bring to the table that others couldn't against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Justin Gaethje on the biggest takeaway from his fight against Tony Ferguson
Justin Gaethje finished Tony Ferguson via TKO in their interim title fight at UFC 249. In doing so, The Highlight also ended Ferguson's winning streak in the UFC, however, Justin Gaethje was surprised by the fact that his fight against El Cucuy went that long.
"It was a lot of good things to take away, you know I was very surprised that fight went that long and be that effective for that long. So that adds to my confidence going into this fight, it will be super important."- said, Justin Gaethje.
If there was ever an offer to fight Conor McGregor
According to Conor McGregor's latest tweets, the former UFC Lightweight Champion revealed that he had asked UFC President Dana White for a fight against Justin Gaethje, earlier in the year. However, the latter himself has no idea if there was ever an offer on the table to fight the Irishman.
"I have no idea, I really don't. I don't know. I mean, obviously, after I beat Tony they said I could fight him but that was never an option for me. When I beat Tony that night, I punched my ticket, that was my golden ticket. I'm not gonna, you know, offer it up for free. I'm gonna punch my golden ticket."- Justin Gaethje added.
Read here: How much does Justin Gaethje earn?
Justin Gaethje on a possible rematch against Dustin Poirier
In 2018, Justin Gaethje suffered a fourth-round stoppage loss to Dustin Poirier. The Diamond, who is also a former interim UFC Lightweight Champion, was initially on schedule to fight at UFC 254 but the promotion failed to negotiate the rumored fight against Tony Ferguson.
If the result goes Justin Gaethje's way at UFC 254 and if he walks out with the title, The Highlight would gladly rematch Dustin Poirier and avenge his loss.
"Absolutely. Yes, that would be very important to me."
Justin Gaethje on what he will bring to the table against the unbeaten Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib Nurmagomedov remains undefeated and stands at 28-0. Heading into this fight, not only will Justin Gaethje aim to win the UFC Lightweight Championship but his goal will be to end Khabib's unbeaten run, something that every other fighter has aimed and failed to do so.
However, The Highlight doesn't know what the difference he will bring to the table and is counting on the unpredictability of the sport.
"I don't know. You know, Michael Johnson was a good striker, Dustin Poirier is a good striker. Neither are as athletic as me, neither posses skills to scramble out of takedowns and things like that. I mean, they don't not possess skills but its not their forte. That's what I've been doing for a long time, as long as Khabib has trained, I have trained. I promise you, there's no possible way, we're the same age. He has not worked harder or longer than me, it's not possible. So, I don't know what I offer different because it's really an irrelevant question because the reason why you're such a big fan of the sport and the reason why I'm such a big fan of the sport is because of the unpredictability. And that's what I'm counting on."- Justin Gaethje added.
UFC Fight Night: Khabib vs Gaethje will take place on Saturday, October 24, 2020 from 11.30 pm IST, Live and Exclusive in India on Sony Ten 2 and Sony Ten 3 (Hindi) channels.
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