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There has been a lot of speculation about who would be Conor McGregor’s newest opponent ever since he revealed that he would be back to the Octagon on January 18, 2020.
Following the announcement, UFC President Dana White made it clear that it could possibly be the fifth-ranked Donald Cerrone. If that happens, winning the fight would set McGregor up for a title shot and a rematch against Khabib Nurmagomedov, and if there is someone least happy about the situation, it is the fourth-ranked Justin Gaethje.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Gaethje pulled no punches while talking about McGregor and saying with conviction that the ‘Notorious’ is scared of facing him in the cage. But in response to his long and elaborate verbal onslaught, McGregor had a curt response which he tweeted on Thursday.
Gaethje calls McGregor a ‘Ronda Rousey story’
Currently riding on a three-win streak, Gaethje says that if McGregor wants to fight for a world title, he should have to go through him, and the only reason Conor is avoiding that is because he wants a sure win.
“I truly believe that he is scared to fight the fight that he has to fight against me. I think he’s looking for a sure win. At the end of the day, there’s only two ways out with me. You either knock me out - I wouldn’t finish him like Khabib did, I wouldn’t take his neck. I’d make him stand up and then I’d make him take it like a man. That’s one thing I know deep down he’s terrified of and that’s one thing I bring to the table.”
He went on to call McGregor’s current situation another ‘Ronda Rousey story’, insinuating that he would lose and fade away from the Octagon soon enough.
“I think he knows that he needs a win but at the end of the day this is gonna be another Ronda Rousey story. He dug himself too deep of a hole and there’s no way he can come out of it. He’s gonna get knocked out and he’s gonna go away.”
Having beaten his last three opponents in first-round knockouts, including Cerrone himself in his last outing in September, Gaethje right now has eyes set on fighting Khabib for the Championship and would clearly not have anyone standing in his way.
McGregor’s response to Gaethje
Conor McGregor has never been one to refrain from retaliating, but this time his response was short and meant to imply his indifference towards Gaethje’s tirade.
Many fans supported the Irishman in the thread and many others seemed to share the same sentiment as Gaethje, while some of them only wanted to see Conor McGregor back and fighting like before.
Time will tell whom he goes up against eventually on his much-awaited return.
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