Justin Gaethje explains why he doesn’t want to fight Max Holloway

Justin Gaethje says he doesn’t want to fight Max Holloway.

Gaethje is the current BMF champion and will likely fight for the UFC title next time out. However, he may have to wait a bit as UFC CEO Dana White has said Charles Oliveira will likely be next for Islam Makhachev. With that, Justin Gaethje has said he is fine waiting for a year from now to get the title shot against Makhchev.

Although Justin Gaethje could be waiting for quite some time, Max Holloway took to X to call out ‘The Highlight’ for his BMF title. Immediately, many fans jumped on the idea, but Gaethje says he doesn’t have any interest in fighting the Hawaiian for a unique reason.

“I don’t ever want to fight Holloway. I don’t know, I just don’t ever, I don’t want to punch him. Well, I just don’t, it’s not necessary. I like him too much, I like him. He’s a good dude. I don’t him personally, but I’m a fan of his, I don’t prefer to punch him. But, if I have to I would I guess,” Gaethje said to ESPN.

Justin Gaethje not being interested in fighting Max Holloway is a bit disappointed as it would be a very fan-friendly fight on paper. However, it doesn’t seem like this fight will ever happen, which is a bit disappointing for many fans.

Gaethje is currently 25-4 as a pro and coming off a head-kick KO win over Dustin Poirier back in July to win the vacant title. Prior to that, he scored a majority decision win over Rafael Fiziev to return to the win column after the loss to Charles Oliveira for the vacant title. ‘The Highlight’ is the former interim UFC lightweight champ but is 0-2 in undisputed title shots, as he lost to Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov.