Justin Gaethje will defend his symbolic ‘BMF’ title against Max Holloway on the main card at UFC 300 in las Vegas on Saturday night, but if he emerges victorious he won’t be looking for a quick return to action to fight for the lightweight title against Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 in June.
“Ideally, they’re calling this [Charles] Oliveira – [Arman] Tsarukyan fight [at UFC 300] a title eliminator, so the winner of that fight fights [Makhachev] in June, then I fight the winner of that in preferably Madison Square Garden in November,” Gaethje told MMA Junkie.
“That sounds like a perfect timeline for me. I’ll definitely have my time to rest, recovery and retrain myself to get ready for that fight. That’s the perfect situation for me. We’ll see if Oliveira sh*ts the bed again. I think if Tsarukyan wins he takes it because they are calling this a title eliminator, so whoever wins is going to have to fight that fight.”
There is another potential scenario though, with Makhachev having recently called out Dustin Poirier after seeing him KO Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 299, but given that Gaethje KO’d Poirier in their BMF title fight back in July of last year, Gaethje is less than enthused by the idea that ‘The Diamond’ could get a title shot before him.
“I’m sure I would be annoyed,” Gaethje responded when asked about that possibility.
