Those that doubted the power and grit of Justin Gaethje when he entered the UFC, were silenced in his very first fight in the promotion against the dangerous Michael Johnson. The build-up to the fight was epic, albeit tinged with nasty thrash talk. The story went like this, ‘The Highlight’ walked into the UFC with a lot of hype, and Johnson was coming off a high-profile KO win over Dustin Poirier in his last fight. Naturally, ‘The Menace’ thought he could bully Gaethje as an older promotional fighter, but soon had a rude awakening inside the Octagon when the doors shut at The Ultimate Fighter season 25 Finale. ‘The Highlight’ ended up finishing ‘The Menace’ within two rounds.

Since then, Gaethje had a rocky start following his UFC debut win, but made it to the pinnacle of the sport by contesting for the lightweight title twice, winning the interim lightweight championship, and becoming the BMF champion – with a promotional record of 8-5. Johnson, on the other hand, had a less-than-stellar run since fighting Gaethje, accumulating a UFC record of 6-7. However, ‘The Menace’ has been successful in his last two fights, most notably knocking out Ottman Azaitar in the second round this last weekend at UFC Tampa.

After knocking out Azaitar, Johnson, who has been in UFC for more than 15 years, expressed an inkling to get right back to training, in his post-fight speech. Furthermore, he expressed an interest in facing the man who put a relentless beating on him back in 2017 – a man he welcomed to the promotion. “The Justin Gaethje fight – that’s the one that I want. I think everybody would love a Gaethje-Johnson [rematch]. I gave him that opportunity when he came over [from WSOF] when nobody else wanted to [fight him], so I think he should go ahead and give that back. We need to run [that] one [back] ’cause I know he knows he got away with that one,” he said.

Interestingly, the Arizona native fighting out of Denver, Colorado, Justin Gaethje is set to come back in March even though his opponent is still not decided. Even his long-time manager Ali Abdelaziz revealed that the former BMF champ would come back in the first quarter of 2025. In that light, is there a possibility that Dana White grants Michael Johnson his wish of avenging this bitter loss? Likely not, because Gaethje only wants to make one last run to the title before hanging up his gloves, and fighting lesser ranked opponent isn’t the way to go about it. Meanwhile, another top-10 lightweight is vying for a rematch with ‘The Highlight’.

Michael Chandler named Justin Gaethje in his plans for 2025

Despite losing to Charles Oliveira at UFC 309, Michael Chandler has big plans for 2025. This blueprint of his plans for next year contains big names like lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, BMF champion Max Holloway, Conor McGregor, and Justin Gaethje. Gaethje and Chandler met at UFC 268, where they engaged in a barn-burner of a fight that went all three rounds. However, that night belonged to ‘The Highlight’ as he handed ‘Iron’ Mike his second promotional loss in 2021.

Like Johnson, Michael Chandler wants a rematch with the ex-BMF champ, even calling him out multiple times (especially when Gaethje beat Dustin Poirier at UFC 291). But the Arizona native in uninterested in a rematch with the Florida-based Chandler.

Justin Gaethje is sitting one spot below Charles Oliveira in the lightweight rankings at #3. ‘The Highlight’ is also on a hunt for a win after he lost to Max Holloway in 2024 and even wants to settle his score with Charles Oliveira. When asked by Helen Yee, if he was interested in fighting Michael Chandler again, Gaethje said, “No, I mean, I’m more interested in a rematch with Oliveira you know, or Poirier but I prefer something new. I think me and Poirier would be a great fight you know. If it is his last one. I just think that we’re both contenders and I don’t think we’re contenders if we fight each other. And so, I’m content with the one and one, hopefully he is.”

Not wanting to fight a man he already beat, and someone who is far down the rankings than him makes complete sense from Gaethje’s perspective. Why would he risk his #3 spot for Chandler’s #7 spot, also keeping in mind the latter being 1-4 in his last five? Self-admittedly, ‘The Highlight’ confessed that he doesn’t have much time left in the sport while speaking to Daniel Cormier in his UFC 286 post-fight speech after beating Rafael Fiziev. “I’m taking one more run at the title. But I ain’t going to be around much longer, so I’m so glad you guys got to enjoy this with me. Thank you guys.”

What do you think of Justin Gaethje’s next opponent? Will it be the two lightweights ranked below him – Michael Chandler or Michael Johnson? Or will the UFC grant Gaethje an opponent worthy of beating, to fight for the title again? Let us know in the comments down below.