Some rumors have bounced around about Justin Gaethje potentially getting a crack at Ilia Topuria’s UFC lightweight title earlier next year, and a teammate of Gaethje’s has weighed in on those rumblings. The contestant in question is Archie Colgan, who recently kept building upon his undefeated pro MMA record earlier this month.
‘King’ Colgan secured a victory over Jay Jay Wilson at PFL Dubai on October 3rd and addressed several subjects on Bowks Talking Bouts after the big win.
Touching on his direct history with the former BMF champion and his thoughts on the reports of Gaethje perhaps being set for another crack at 155-pound gold in 2026, Colgan said [via Bowks Talking Bouts]
“Yeah, we’re training partners. I just talked with him yesterday and there’s not; as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing official about any of those rumors or reports that is running around online. But, yeah, I hope that’s to be true because how, you; I mean, you’d want your guy to to get another title shot.”
“So hopefully that’s all true and there’s some fruition that comes out of that and maybe like early January or February or something like that, they lock down him and and Ilia. That’d be sick. It’d be a good fight.”
When mentioning how it would be cool to see himself and Gaethje receive PFL and UFC title shots, respectively, Colgan responded [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Yeah, back to back. We’ll both bring the the titles back to the gym, celebrate together. Man, what a home run for the team, huh?”
Justin Gaethje may also be out for close to a year and a half
Justin Gaethje bested Rafael Fiziev in March at UFC 313, and with a professed desire to fight Ilia Topuria on the June 2026 White House card is there, Gaethje is also indicating he is prepared to sit on the sidelines for a while. The former UFC interim lightweight champion took to his personal X platform to map out his ideal next step in mixed martial arts, as Gaethje stated [via Bloody Elbow],
“My next fight, I am planning on fighting whenever Ilia Topuria is fighting. I was hoping they would let me fight him in January, but I can’t really see that happening now. The biggest question is when is Ilia fighting again. I don’t know the answer to that, and I don’t know that anybody except him and his team know the answer to that. Best case scenario now is they just put us on the White House card.”
The 15-month layoff timeline would be retroactive to the Fiziev rematch in March if Gaethje does, in fact, get his wish for an Ilia Topuria fight in June of next year.