Justin Gaethje is done playing the long game with the UFC. For years now, ‘The Highlight’ has been doing everything the UFC has asked of him. He’s never run away from any fights, has stepped up on short notice, and even taken fights that did not benefit him at all.
Take the Max Holloway fight, for example. Gaethje didn’t need to fight Holloway; his path to the title was set. Following his victory over Dustin Poirier, he was next in line for the title shot. However, the UFC begged him to fight Holloway for UFC 300, and he lost via a brutal KO.
That one fight, with a featherweight fighter, derailed the years of hard work he had put in to get to the top of the division. And now he’s had enough. Gaethje is demanding a bigger paycheck or a title shot for his next fight. If he doesn’t get either of those, ‘The Highlight’ claims he will retire from the sport.
But Chael Sonnen does not like the tactic he is using for this. In the latest episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast, he had this to say: “If you make a play like that and you give the perception that you’re pulling the strings of the UFC, you’re going to be met with resistance.”
We’ve seen it happen in the past, with fighters like Francis Ngannou, who tried to force the UFC’s hand and had to end up leaving the organization altogether.
But ‘The Highlight‘ isn’t really threatening the UFC, because he’s made it very public that he’s not going to fight anywhere else. Especially since he hasn’t gotten to see any of the fights from his hypothetical ‘super card.’
Justin Gaethje reveals his dream card in the UFC
Gaethje is very happy fighting for the UFC; he was not complaining about the organization. All he wants is to be rewarded for everything he’s done for the organization, no questions asked. And even if he retires, he will not benefit from it because he won’t sign for any other promotion.
In fact, he loves the organization so much that he even has a dream card in his head. During an episode of the Makeshift podcast, the hosts asked Gaethje what his dream UFC card was like. He replied, “Ronda Rousey’s third fight in the UFC vs. Amanda’s 6th fight. Second feature bout is going to be Khabib vs. Conor (2).”
Justin Gaethje’s hypothetical supercard is absolutely wild:
➊ Ronda Rousey vs Amanda Nunes
➋ Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor 2
➌ ⚔️ Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier
➍ Four-way deathmatch – Justin Gaethje vs Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway vs Islam Makhachev… pic.twitter.com/zBZfidwqit— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) June 13, 2025
He then revealed the co-main and main event, “Cormier vs. Jones (Co-main). The main event is a four-way death match with me, Poirier, Holloway, and Makhachev.” The Arizonian even revealed a hilarious reason why he chose a four-way deathmatch. “Us three could definitely f*ck him up real quick and then we’ll see.”
The entire set, including Gaethje and the hosts, burst out laughing when the former BMF champion made this statement. Purely because of how bizarre it was to even think of 4 of the best lightweights on the planet fighting each other in the octagon.
