Manager Ali Abdelaziz has made a strong assertion while serving as
an unofficial mouthpiece of
UFC lightweight star Justin
Gaethje.
With Islam
Makhachev off to pursue championship dreams at 170 pounds,
Ilia
Topuria and Charles
Oliveira will vie for the vacant lightweight belt in the
UFC
317 main event on June 28. Gaethje will have a vested
interested in the result of that fight, according to his
manager.
“Justin
Gaethje fights the winner,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio.
“He’s won three of his last four, he saved the UFC two times. They
needed him, and he’s there. The guy did so much for the sport. If
anyone said he doesn’t deserve it—and he said, ‘If I’m not going to
fight for the title, I’m just going to hang up my gloves.’”
The former World Series of Fighting Champion is 3-1 in his last
four Octagon appearances, with victories over Rafael
Fiziev (twice) and Dustin
Poirier to his credit. His lone loss during that time, a
fifth-round knockout against Max
Holloway in a lightweight bout for the BMF title at UFC 300,
stood out as one of the iconic moments in the sport for 2024.
“He’s a very principled guy,” Abdelaziz said. “…He told me this
yesterday. I was at the fight, he said, ‘I’m not going to get a
title shot. I feel disrespected. I love being a UFC fighter, I love
the UFC, but I feel the UFC has to love me back.’ And he doesn’t
feel the love right now.
“But listen, at the end of the day, I think, this guy, they love
him. I think they will give him what he wanted. But at the end of
the day, we have to see what happens first between Charles and
Ilia.”
Gaethje has built a reputation as one of the sport’s most notorious
action fighters over the course of his professional tenure. He has
twice challenged for lightweight gold in the UFC, falling to
Khabib
Nurmagomedov in 2020 and to Charles
Oliveira in 2022. His 9-5 Octagon record also includes
victories over the likes of Michael
Chandler, Tony
Ferguson, Donald
Cerrone, Edson
Barboza and Michael
Johnson.