Ex-BMF Champ Threatens To ‘Hang Up My Gloves' Without UFC Title Shot
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 07: Matt Schnell leaves his gloves in the center of the Octagon after ... More a submission loss against Cody Durden in a bantamweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on September 07, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Former BMF champion Justin Gaethje is waiting for his next booking from the UFC, and the former UFC interim lightweight champion expects his next fight to be his third shot at the undisputed UFC lightweight title.
Gaethje (26-5) is coming off a March decision win over Rafael Fiziev on the UFC 313 fight card. After that win, which earned Gaethje his 14th UFC Fight Night Bonus, he said at the post-fight press conference, "I want to fight for the belt, obviously. 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 [Islam] Makhachev."
Makhachev remains the UFC lightweight champ on paper. However, the UFC has announced that he is moving up to welterweight and will likely meet UFC 170-pound champion Jack Della Maddalena in his first fight in that weight division. With that move in the cards, the UFC lightweight title will be up for grabs when the cage door shuts behind former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria and ex-lightweight champ Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
Gaethje is the No. 3 ranked fighter in the official UFC lightweight rankings.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 08: Justin Gaethje enters the Octagon in a lightweight fight during the ... More UFC 313 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 08, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Gaethje's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, says his client is expecting a fight against the winner of the UFC 317 main event.
"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—he said, 'If I'm not going to fight for the title, I'm just going to hang up my gloves.'"
"He's a very principled guy," Abdelaziz added. "I never—he feels strongly about this. 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."
Abdelaziz's statement echoed the words of UFC commentator Jon Anik, who claimed that Gaethje was unhappy not to get the call to fight for the vacant lightweight belt.
"He was pissed," Anik said on The Anik & Florian Podcast. "He feels like certainly he was passed over in favor of Charles Oliveira for this opportunity against Ilia Topuria and I think what Justin Gaethje and his manager Ali Abdelaziz are looking for is just some sort of guarantee that they will be next because it's May 19 and the good news for this Topuria-Oliveira fight is that it's (expletive) June 28, it's less than six weeks away. So I don't think it's a crazy request for Justin, having done what he did against Rafael Fiziev, staying on the fight card, not fighting Dan Hooker, getting a win, distance from the UFC 300 result—and by the way, he fought at UFC 300 to help the UFC when he could have fought for the undisputed championship at that point in time—so I wouldn't be surprised if Gaethje gets some sort of guarantee that he's next for the Topuria-Oliveira winner.
"But I can just tell you Justin was not thrilled."
UFC 317 takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on June 28. We will have more coverage of the event as fight night approaches.
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