Despite plenty of fan interest, Justin Gaethje does not plan on fighting Dustin Poirier again, and the MMA community now continues to wonder who the final UFC opponent for ‘The Diamond’ will be.
This past weekend, Gaethje secured a second decision win over Rafael Fiziev, after 3 exciting rounds, in UFC 313’s co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Dustin Poirier has announced that his next fight will most likely be his last, but the UFC has yet to announce his opponent, but it certainly sounds as though it will not be Gaethje.
In 2018, Poirier managed to stop Gaethje with strikes in the 4th round of their first meeting, but more recently, during their 2023 rematch at UFC 291, ‘The Highlight’ got his payback with a devastating head kick knockout in the 2nd round. Despite the pair being squared up at one win each, Gaethje indicated while talking to reporters after UFC 313 that he intends for it to stay that way.
“I want to fight for the belt, obviously,” Gaethje said at the UFC 313 post-fight press conference when asked what’s next. “That’s a much different matchup than the one I just had. They tried to give me a doughnut. I took a bite, but I’ve got to get back to running if I’m going to fight Makahchev.”
“No, I’ve stated many times that I don’t think that either one of our families deserve that,” Gaethje said. “We’re 1-1. I’m OK with it. If he’s OK with it, then no. I think we’re contenders, but if we beat other people. If I beat him, I don’t think either one of us would be considered a contender.”
(h/t BJPenn.com)