Former UFC interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje is pretty furious with the way he is currently being treated by the promotion.
Last month, UFC fans were hit with some shock news when Justin Gaethje‘s manager claimed that Gaethje is considering retirement after he was snubbed for the vacant lightweight title fight at UFC 317.
The fan favorite seemingly went on to explain that if he isn’t given a title shot in his next fight then he will retire from the sport, and things got worse when Ilia Topuria went on to snub him as his next opponent.
Not only that, but UFC boss Dana White didn’t react well to ‘The Highlight’s’ comments and told him to retire following his ‘whacky’ statement.
Justin Gaethje claims he’s being used by the UFC as he turns down contender fight
Unfortunately, the relationship between the 36-year-old and the UFC seems to be getting increasingly worse and the former interim lightweight champion has recently claimed that he is being used by the UFC.
Following his win over Rafael Fiziev at UFC 313 and Paddy Pimblett’s win over Michael Chandler at UFC 314, fans began to call for a fight between the two, to determine who will fight for the title next.
Despite that, ‘The Highlight’ has absolutely zero interest in fighting Paddy Pimblett and has turned down the possible number one contender fight.
“No absolutely not (I won’t fight Pimblett), if that’s the route that they want me to take then I don’t believe that they need me anymore and I know that sounds petty or whatever but I’m number three (in the rankings), I’m 3-1 in my last four fights,” Gaethje told ESPN MMA.
“The champion (Islam Makhachev) was calling to fight me, he vacated, they bring a new guy in and give a 2-2 the fight so if their math tells them to just use me until I get beat then I’m going to have to really re-evaluate what I’m doing here because I signed up for a merit based system.
“I thought it was 100% merit based but it’s completely not 100% that,” Gaethje continued.
Justin Gaethje lays out his perfect scenario
Although at this point it seems as though he has some ways to go before he is given a title shot because of his recent comments, the 36-year-old has laid out his perfect scenario for the rest of his career.
“Best case scenario… If this happens I will believe it’s a simulation but, I beat Topuria at the end of this year, I defend it against (Max) Holloway on the White House lawn and retire with the BMF and the championship belt,” Gaethje described.
At this point, it is unclear who the UFC will pick as Ilia Topuria‘s first lightweight title defence, and following Max Holloway’s win over Dustin Poirier at UFC 318, he may find himself near the top of the list.