Daniel Cormier has questions about Justin Gaethje’s approach with the UFC.
Gaethje (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) is adamant he should be next in line for UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria after doing the promotion a solid on a couple of occasions. The issue for Gaethje is he’s in the running with the likes of Max Holloway, Arman Tsarukyan, and possibly Paddy Pimblett, as well.
Gaethje said if the UFC tries to match him up with Pimblett, he doesn’t believe they need him anymore. He even threatened to retire if he doesn’t get his way, which UFC CEO Dana White called “pretty whacky.”
Cormier advises Gaethje against making ultimatums with the UFC.
“It sounds like he’s more than willing now to stand by that and be done,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “That would suck because MMA is better when Justin Gaethje is fighting. We just had to watch Dustin Poirier retire last weekend and that absolutely sucked. So, what’s going to happen this time? We have to walk away from Justin Gaethje, too? That era of fighters that we all fell in love with so much are starting to take the curtain call and go, ‘Hey, my time is done. This game is done with me or I’m done with this game.’
“Justin seems very, very stern in the idea that if he has to fight Paddy Pimblett, and that’s the only option, he’s not going to do it. That sucks because I don’t know that it’s going to make the UFC say, ‘We have to give Justin Gaethje a title fight.’ I don’t know that they’re going to do that, especially when you go through all the things that Arman has a case, Paddy has a case.”
In a recent interview, Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) said he thinks his first title challenger will either be Gaethje or Pimblett, who he faced off with in the octagon after knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June.
