Apparently Sherdog.com’s 2021 “Fight of the Year” winner wasn’t all that impressive to
Justin
Gaethje.
Gaethje, whose scintillating lightweight clash with Michael
Chandler at Madison Square Garden last November took home top
fight honors from more than a few publications, reminisced on the
bout during an interview with BT Sport. His
assessment of the action focused more on the disappointment of not
finishing Chandler than anything else.
“To be completely honest with you, I feel like that was kind of a
boring fight when I was in there,” Gaethje said. “Yeah, it just
makes no sense. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to win more
than to knock somebody out.
“So yeah, it was not good. I didn’t like it. I want to go back to
just wanting to hurt somebody and finish them. But now that I have
won, I got my title shot, I can go back to how it should be.”
The former World Series of Fighting champion has won five of his
last six outings, and his unanimous verdict over Chandler seems to
have locked up his status as No. 1 contender. In his ideal world,
Gaethle would face reigning 155-pound champion Charles
Oliveira in hostile territory.
“I want to go down to Brazil,” Gaethje said. “I want to fight in
the chaos. If you go back and listen to my earlier interviews, I
said I wanted to go to the enemy territory, like Brazil, and fight
in that chaos. Them screaming ‘I’m gonna die,’ 20,000 people, I am
100 percent confident that when I’m done, they’ll love me….
“There’s a card in Brazil, May 7. I want to fight the Brazilian
champion in Brazil. I want the chaos.”
Whether that location holds up remains to be seen. While UFC 274
was initially expected to be held in Rio de Janeiro, the event now
reportedly
will be moved to the United States.