Justin Gaethje tells Conor McGregor why he's snubbing him in favour of a Khabib fight
Justin Gaethje claimed the interim UFC lightweight title last weekend in the main event of UFC 249.
Justin Gaethje has revealed he's snubbing a fight with Conor McGregor because he's not a "greedy motherf****r". After seeing Gaethje claim the interim lightweight title last weekend with a fifth-round TKO victory over Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, McGregor attempted to entice 'The Highlight' into fighting him on Twitter.
The former two-division champion did so by insisting undisputed lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov - whom Gaethje is on course to fight later this year - will pull out of his unification fight with 'The Highlight'.
McGregor, 31, also vowed to 'butcher' the newly-crowned interim champion for comments he's in the past.
The Notorious' attempts to goad Gaethje into foregoing his crack at the undisputed lightweight title in favour of the biggest payday of his career, however, have failed to bear fruit.
"If I want to fight Conor, I can fight Conor," the former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion told ESPN. "Believe me.
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Not everyone is a greedy motherf***er like him
"Why wouldn't Dana [White] put that together? But that's not the fight I want.
"His only ploy is he's Mr. Red Panty Night. Not everyone is a greedy motherf***er like him."
Gaethje responded to McGregor's Twitter rampage by claiming the UFC's poster boy is 'losing his clout' by publicly campaigning for fights.
"I tweeted he's losing his clout," Gaethje elaborated when pressed on his response. "I don't mean in general; with the general public.
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"But with fighters, man, this guy - he's losing so much respect in the game. Which he probably doesn't care [about].
"But to someone like me, even him, I would assume that matters a little bit. He doesn't hold the cards right now.
"I put myself in a great position. I asked for a say in my destiny and I went out there and I showed up. And now, I'm in a spot where I can pick between Khabib and Conor."
Although he's not in his sights right now, Gaethje is keen to one day share the Octagon with McGregor.
"Whenever I beat Khabib and I beat Conor, in these times, under this microscope, that's legendary," he said. "Absolutely legendary.
"That will be almost unmatched in the history of what we do. So to be in that position, that feels great."
McGregor, 22-4, hasn't set foot inside the Octagon since beating Donald Cerrone in January in the main event of UFC 246.
The Irishman is hoping to fight two more times this year and recently hinted the second outing of his 2020 "season" will take place in July.