Justin Gaethje is waiting for Conor McGregor to “punch him in the face”

UFC Lightweight contender Justin Gaethje told TMZ he’s waiting for Conor McGregor to “punch him in the face” inside the Octagon.

Justin Gaethje has been very open about his desire to fight Conor McGregor in a No. 1 contender fight to determine the next in line to fight the winner of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. Gaethje recently said that McGregor is “ducking him”. So far, Conor McGregor hasn’t responded, most likely waiting to see how the title fight between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson plays out first.

Understandably, Gaethje is not happy about being sidelined since last September when he defeated Donald Cerrone by 1st round knockout in the main event of UFC Vancouver. Gaethje is currently riding a 3-fight win streak, with victories over Cerrone, Edson Barboza, and James Vick. It appears that the UFC is valuing McGregor’s 1-fight win streak over a man Gaethje already beat in Cerrone more. This situation is making Gaethje angry and it’s part of the reason he wants to fight McGregor so badly.

In a recent interview with TMZ, Gaethje spoke about his desire to fight Conor McGregor for the next title shot at 155lbs.

“As you can see, the man is not going to fight me. What the f*ck do you gotta do? He’s running out of easy fights. I’m sitting here, smoking my CBD, waiting for a motherf*cker to punch me in the face. Let’s go, don’t be a p*ssy,” Gaethje said.

At the moment, it seems unlikely that Gaethje will get a crack at the McGregor fight, that he so badly craves. With UFC 249 coming up in April, we can assume that the UFC will wait and see if anything happens to Nurmagomedov or Ferguson, because McGregor can step into the main event slot if that’s the case. In that scenario, Gaethje will once again be left without an opponent.

This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 24th February, 2020.