Justin Gaethje is hopeful that following his win at UFC 313, he has done enough to earn the next lightweight title shot.
After being devastatingly knocked out by Max Holloway at UFC 300 last April, it was unclear what Justin Gaethje had left to give to the sport of MMA.
‘The Highlight’ answered those questions and put any doubts to bed this past Saturday at UFC 313, when he once again went to war with Rafael Fiziev, with Gaethje picking up the decision win.
Following his fight, Gaethje was given a huge boost by UFC boss, Dana White, who claimed that the 36-year-old is in a ‘pretty good’ position to get the next lightweight title shot.
Jon Anik believes Justin Gaethje has done enough to fight Islam Makhachev
Current champion, Islam Makhachev has previously admitted that he would like to fight Gaethje as he believes there is no one else in the lightweight division who makes sense.
That is despite the fact that featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria vacated his title to permanently move up to 155lbs in pursuit of a fight against the Russian.
There is no clear number one contender in the division and although many think Arman Tsarukyan to be the true number one contender, he won’t be fighting for the title next.
And with that, the man extremely close to the action on Saturday night, Jon Anik, believes Gaethje has done enough to fight for the title next.
“He absolutely should fight Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title,” the UFC commentator told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive interview.
“I don’t know that he could’ve done more with this showcase and sometimes, decision wins are better than finishes… I actually think this is more useful.
“It would seem to me in a speculative way, that Ilia Topuria has the inside track. I don’t know if it’s a case of you’ve got to strike while the iron is hot or if there isn’t an obvious number one contender… I wonder if Islam Makhachev is going to have a say in all of this.
“Don’t you believe, right, that if Islam Makhachev is probed on this he’s gonna wanna fight Justin Gaethje? I don’t know what the Pay-Per-View window says about Gaethje vs Topuria… The nature of this win for Gaethje and the fact that we haven’t seen that fight, to me promotionally, I would go in that direction,” he continued.
Islam Makhachev’s coach names Justin Gaethje as ‘ideal’ next opponent
The Russian champion’s head coach, Javier Mendez, may have given the fans a hint about who the champion is potentially going to defend his title against next.
Not only has Makhachev stated that he isn’t keen on a fight against Topuria yet but his coach, Khabib Nurmagomedov also believes Topuria needs at least one win at lightweight before he can fight for the title.
Following Gaethje’s win on Saturday, Mendez has named the 36-year-old as the ‘ideal’ next opponent for Makhachev, considering it is a fresh matchup for the Russian and that it is a good stylistic matchup.