Justin Gaethje has made it clear he’s not a big admirer of Conor McGregor. But, the former WSOF champ believes the controversial star will likely get past Donald Cerrone at UFC 246.
In recent months, Gaethje has been calling for a bout with McGregor. Not only because of where the lightweights sit in the UFC ranks, but because Gaethje doesn’t like the former champ. Case in point, after video footage surfaced of McGregor sucker punching an elderly man in a Dublin pub, Gaethje reported he will “never respect” the star.
More recently, Gaethje spoke to MMA Tonight, and he was asked to weigh-in on the upcoming fight between McGregor and Cerrone. Here’s what Gaethje had to say (quote via MMA Mania):
“I’m sure I would lean towards Conor, you know distance management and timing are super, super valuable, and that’s what I think was the big key to my success in that fight [my last fight against Cowboy] and I think that’s going to be a factor in this fight. But I will pray many times over that Cowboy knocks him out,” Gaethje said.
It’s not too shocking to hear Gaethje say this, as he is coming off a first round, stoppage win over Cerrone. Further, the consensus is that McGregor should return to the win column on January 18th. But, since Gaethje is friends with Cerrone, and because of his aforementioned issues with McGregor, of course he’ll be cheering for “Cowboy”.
As far as Gaethje’s next bout, he’s been pushing for a fight with the winner of the upcoming, April 18th bout between lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. UFC President Dana White, however, has said that if McGregor beats Cerrone, he’ll be next (Khabib and his manager disagree).
Here is the line-up for UFC 246, which will go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC 246 Main Card 0n ESPN+ PPV (10 p.m. ET):
170 lbs.: Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone
135 lbs.: Holly Holm vs. Raquel Pennington
265 lbs.: Maurice Greene vs. Aleksei Oleinik
115 lbs.: Claudia Gadelha vs. Alexa Grasso
155 lbs.: Diego Ferreira vs. Anthony Pettis
UFC 246 Prelims Card 0n ESPN (8 p.m. ET):
145 lbs.: Maycee Barber vs. Roxanne Modafferi
145 lbs.: Andre Fili vs. Sodiq Yusuff
155 lbs.: Drew Dober vs. Nasrat Haqparast
145 lbs.: Grant Dawson vs. Chas Skelly
UFC 246 Early Prelims Card 0n ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET):
205 lbs.: Aleksa Camur vs. Justin Ledet
125 lbs.: Askar Askarov vs. Tim Elliott
135 lbs.: Brian Kelleher vs. Ode Osbourne
125 lbs.: J.J. Aldrich vs. Sabina Mazo
*Fight card, bout order and the amount of matches subject to change.
Line-up via MMA Mania
The country music star Colt Ford is opening up about the heart attack that he…
Chris Hemsworth, best known for his role as Thor in the Marvel cinematic universe, insists…
Michael Richards, who played Cosmo Kramer on the hit show Seinfeld that ran for nine…
Last month, we reported that the former Tonight Show host Jay Leno's beloved wife Mavis,…
Harry Hamlin of Clash Of The Titans and L.A. Law fame has been a Hollywood…
In November of 2021, the singer Britney Spears was finally freed from the 13-year conservatorship…