Justin
Gaethje wasn’t impressed that he captured Conor
McGregor’s attention Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
Gaethje (25-4, 8-4 UFC) is coming off an impressive performance
against Dustin
Poirier in the
UFC 291 headliner, a second-round knockout victory that earned
“The Highlight” his second consecutive triumph and the symbolic
“BMF” title. In victory, Gaethje also avenged the loss he suffered
at the hands of Poirier in their first encounter in 2018. Moments
after his win, Gaethje was called out by former
Ultimate Fighting Championship two-division champion McGregor,
who promised to “slap” Gaethje around in a since-then deleted
Tweet.
On previous occasions, the former
World Series of Fighting champ attempted to face McGregor in
the Octagon, but the matchup never materialized. In the UFC 291
post-fight press conference, Gaethje stated he wasn’t interested in
the McGregor fight anymore, implying “The Notorious” was taking
illegal substances since he wasn’t in the USADA pool.
“I think he’s turned me down six times. And usually you have to
lose to fight him, so don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know, I
don’t really care. Whatever. I fight MMA, I like to fight big
fights, I like exciting things, so it sounds pretty exciting to me.
I’m not going to fight someone on steroids. I’ve never taken
steroids in my life, never will. Well, maybe when I retire, I
might… but I’ve never taken steroids, and I don’t want to fight
someone that’s cheating. And I probably shouldn’t even say that if
I want the fight, but it’s the truth.”
Currently, McGregor is attached to a clash with Michael
Chandler after the pair coached “The Ultimate Fighter” Season
31. While the Nevada-based promotion implied the bout would go down
this year, possibly in December, McGregor still needs to re-enter
the USADA pool after suffering a leg injury sustained in the rubber
match with Poirier.