Justin Gaethje worked hard for the title shot he has earned. But if UFC CEO Dana White had his way, ‘The Highlight’ would never have gotten that opportunity. At least, that’s what UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria has claimed in a recent interview. 

Gaethje defeated Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 to become the interim titleholder. This afforded him a title shot against ‘El Matador’ at the UFC White House card on June 14 at the White House lawn. But during a recent interview with ESPN MMA, the Spaniard revealed White’s true intentions. 

“The plan from the beginning was, if Justin won, that I was supposed to fight Islam,” Topuria told Brett Okamoto. “They told me if Justin wins, probably we are gonna let you move up to welterweight and fight for the title with Islam. And if Paddy wins, I fight Paddy next. 

“But you never know. At the end of the day, I was supposed to fight with Islam. One day before, like the announcement of the White House card… Like hours before, I [got] the call and they told me that Islam was injured and I was going to fight Justin.”

It’s worth noting that ‘The Highlight’ was threatening to retire from the sport if he wasn’t given a title shot. It appears UFC and CEO Dana White didn’t much care about that or, at least, believed that Justin Gaethje was bluffing. 

In any case, Islam Makhachev has an entirely different account of why the fight didn’t happen. The UFC welterweight champion claims he had agreed to fight Topuria at the White House card, but Ilia Topuria had demanded too much money for the fight, so the UFC canceled the fight. 
This claim, however, was debunked by Dana White himself, who dismissed the idea during a KICK stream with Adin Ross. Whereas White himself had revealed that Islam Makhachev was injured. Considering all that, a clear picture emerges about what went down. 

First, UFC was ready to risk Justin Gaethje retiring from the sport. Second, Islam Makhachev’s injury did derail the fight. So, the UFC went back to ‘The Highlight’ to fill out the main event at UFC White House. Makhachev is now expected to face Ian Garry at UFC 330 in August this year. 

That being said, though, Ilia Topuria claims he is already celebrating.

Ilia Topuria will celebrate his win before the Justin Gaethje fight

The 29-year-old is heading into his lightweight title bout with unmatched confidence. And it might be overconfidence, since he is even planning a celebration before fight night. ‘El Matador’ expects a large group of supporters to gather in Washington, D.C. for UFC Freedom Fights 250. 

So, he has already organized a major dinner event 24 hours before stepping into the Octagon. 

“We are going to celebrate before the fight,” Topuria said. “Actually, we have everything organized. My team is already taking care of that.”

“Honestly, what I thought [when Gaethje won] is, ‘What a gift.’ … The conversation is not even about who is going to win, because everyone is like, ‘Ilia is going to win.’ They’re all talking about how am I going to knock him out and ‘Will Justin last one round?'”

It appears that while the UFC was planning to sideline Justin Gaethje, they ultimately failed. But now, Ilia Topuria is going around celebrating his win before the fight has even begun. Gaethje clearly has a lot to prove.