Justin Gaethje is far from happy that Charles Oliveira has been granted a shot at the vacant lightweight title against Ilia Topuria at UFC 317 next month instead of him.
That’s the word according to UFC commentator Jon Anik after speaking to the 36-year-old star recently, where it emerged that Gaethje’s team are now in talks with the UFC about what comes next.
“I was with Justin Gaethje a lot this week… And he was p***ed,” Anik said on his podcast with Kenny Florian. “He feels like certainly he was passed over in favor of Charles Oliveira for this opportunity against Ilia Topuria and I think what Justin Gaethje and his manager Ali Abdelaziz are looking for, is just some sort of guarantee they will be next.”
Gaethje is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Rafael Fiziev back in March that left him ranked No.3 in the division.
However, Oliveira is ranked one spot above him at No.2 after his unanimous decision victory over Michael Chandler in November of last year, and given that he is a former champion who also holds a submission win over Gaethje back in the summer of 2022, it does make sense from the UFC’s perspective why they would have chosen him to go up against the undefeated former featherweight champ Topuria.
Meanwhile, with Arman Tsarukyan still technically the No.1 contender at 155lbs, it remains to be seen whether the UFC brass will be willing to offer Gaethje any kind of guarantee regarding getting to fight the winner of Topuria vs. Oliveira next.
