Justin Gaethje believes Conor McGregor finally has the confidence to fight him after UFC 246

Justin Gaethje believes he might be Conor McGregor’s next opponent as the Irishman finally has the confidence to fight him.

Gaethje called out McGregor before “Notorious” returned at UFC 246. Following the win, “The Highlight” thinks the fight still makes sense. John Kavanagh also said they liked the idea of Gaethje at welterweight as their next fight.

“Ultimately that dude makes his own decisions, and I think he has more confidence now,” Gaethje said to the Punchlines Podcast (via MMA Fighting). “He needed a win. So yeah, I think he’ll fight me now.”

Although Justin Gaethje has been adamant about fighting for the belt next, he knows he may not be next in line. Dana White recently came out and said Gaethje is getting passed over for turning down fights.

For The Highlight, he knows just winning three fights in a row might not be enough. So, that is why the McGregor fight makes sense.

“I’m not necessarily being overlooked,” Justin Gaethje said. “I’m in the conversation. I lost two times not that long ago. And, unfortunately, that set me back and that allows these people to have an argument or a case when it comes to the argument or it comes to this circumstance. . . So it does suck to compete as hard as I do and to put as much as I do into it and to maybe have the situation come along where I do get passed over because of money or politics. But at the end of the day if you do keep winning. I’m gonna fight again and if I win, if I knock somebody out again, they can’t deny me.”

Although Justin Gaethje believes the Conor McGregor fight makes sense, he knows he may have missed his opportunity by not being Octagon side for the event.

“To be a superstar you have to win and you have to have something special,” Gaethje said. “For me, I hope that knocking people out is my something special because I can’t sell myself, per se, and become a different person on camera and a different person off-camera…

“Ultimately, I think it could hurt me in the long run, just not wanting to take that route. I could have been there [at UFC 246]. I could have been front row, I could have made a scene, but I don’t know. And maybe I’ll miss an opportunity because I wasn’t there.”

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This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/22/2020.