NEW YORK – UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje sees Rafael Fiziev and Charles Oliveira as good options for his next fight.
Gaethje (23-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) is coming off a title loss to Oliveira (33-9 MMA, 21-9 UFC) this past May, but now that Oliveira is no longer champion, he’s interested in running things back. Rising contender Fiziev (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) has called him out on multiple occasions, and once Gaethje recovers from nose surgery, he’s open to that matchup too.
“They both make just as much sense to me right now,” Gaethje told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at a news conference last week. “I need two wins, doesn’t matter who. They’re gonna be big fights. I don’t wanna fight just anybody, obviously. Both of those guys are possible fights for my next fight. But again, my job is to stay out of my emotions. If I think about those fights, I get emotional, because that’s who we are as humans. I have to put the responsibility on the people that I trust, which is my coach, my manager, and they’re gonna pick the best fight for me, whoever that is.”
Gaethje hopes to compete on the same card as training partner Kamaru Usman, who is projected to face welterweight champion Leon Edwards in a trilogy bout next March in the U.K.
“I really want to be on the card that Kamaru’s on,” Gaethje said. “It sounds like it’s gonna be in March. I don’t know if it’s gonna be in London. I had a huge fight last fight, I got hit really hard, and one thing we have over other sports is the ability to take some time off. Every fight with the UFC has been absolutely huge, but my last three or four fights have been the biggest fights you can be in, so we just got to take time.”
The last time Gaethje and Usman competed on the same card was UFC 268 where Gaethje outlasted Michael Chandler in a Fight of the Year, and Usman retained his welterweight title against arch rival Colby Covington in the headliner.
