Justin Gaethje has three epic fights on his wishlist before hanging up his gloves

• Justin Gaethje has three more fights on his wishlist post which, the hard-hitting lightweight wants to hang up his gloves
• Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, and Dustin Poirier are the three fighters "The Highlight" wants to throw down with before bringing down the curtains on his professional fighting career

UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje has three more fights on his wishlist post which, the hard-hitting lightweight wants to hang up his gloves. Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, and Dustin Poirier are the three fighters "The Highlight" wants to throw down with before bringing down the curtains on his professional fighting career.

Well, one name that is definitely going to be ticked off Gaethje's wishlist is lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov as the pair is likely to throw down in an epic title unification bout in September this year.

Justin Gaethje wants to create history before calling time on his fighting career

In a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Justin Gaethje said he had to struggle his way up the ranks and fight a lot of odds to be where he is at the moment and that he relishes the opportunity to fight Nurmagomedov for the title in September.

“I’m in a great position because I get to fight for a title. There’s some 500 odd people on this roster, every single one of them would want to be in my position right now. But I also have the ability to bring some kind of rhyme or reason, a way, a way to a title shot. For young guys that come in, they think politics run the show. They ultimately do, but there is a small chance that you get a say in your destiny and eliminate politics. That what I just did. Politics were gonna f**k me. I wasn’t going to get the fight. Conor was going to somehow or someway get that fight. Now, I got the chance to go out there and I did what I did.”

Apart from Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje is masively interested in a showdown with McGregor, who he’s recently engaged in a verbal spat with. He rightly believes that back to back wins against Tony Ferguson, Nurmagomedov and McGregor would go down as one of the best streaks in UFC history and etch his name in MMA folklore forever.

“I do. I want to shut him up. I’d love that. I really would. I could fight him right now if I wanted to. Everyone is going to say that I’m lying, that if it was there I would take it. Daniel Cormier said that the other day. I’m not that fighter. For one, I have an opportunity to do something that can be unmatched in the history of our sport. To go in there, to come off the circumstances, to beat Tony like I did, go beat Khabib, go beat Conor, that’s legendary."

The final name on Justin Gaethje's list is former interim lightweight title-holder Dustin Poirier. "The Diamond" knocked out Gaethje when the pair locked horns inside the Octagon back in 2018 and the current interim champion wants to avenge his loss to Poirier before finally calling it a day.

“Fight Poirier and then get the f**k out of here. That’s all I need. What do I need after that? That’d be legendary, I’d make plenty of money – which is ultimately what I’m here to do – and I took control of my destiny, which is all I asked for. Business wise, the smart move right now could be to fight Conor, because obviously that’s a lot of money, but I make way more money when I beat Khabib and then fight. And if Conor’s not there, I’ll fight Poirier. He’s not on my list. Khabib and Poirier are the two on my list right now. If I fight them two, with big paydays, then I’m good.”

Published 29 May 2020, 23:56 IST