Justin Gaethje says he’s waiting for Conor McGregor to “punch him in the face”

UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje says he’s waiting for superstar Conor McGregor to “punch him in the face” inside the Octagon.

Gaethje has been extremely vocal in interviews and on social media about his desire to fight McGregor in a No. 1 contender fight to determine who should fight the winner of UFC 249’s main event between UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. But so far McGregor hasn’t taken the bait and continues to wait for a title shot.

Gaethje is not happy that he has been sitting on the sidelines since last September when he knocked out Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC Vancouver. He’s not happy that his three-fight win streak over Cerrone, Edson Barboza, and James Vick has been usurped by McGregor’s one-fight win streak over a man he already beat in Cerrone. That makes Gaethje angry and it’s part of the reason he wants to fight McGregor so badly.

Speaking to TMZ, Gaethje reaffirmed his desire to fight McGregor for the next title shot at 155lbs.

“As you can see, the man is not going to fight me. What the f*ck do you gotta do? He’s running out of easy fights. I’m sitting here, smoking my CBD, waiting for a motherf*cker to punch me in the face. Let’s go, don’t be a p*ssy,” Gaethje said.

At this point, it seems unlikely Gaethje is going to get the fight with McGregor that he so badly craves. With UFC 249 coming up in April it seems far more likely that the UFC will wait and see if anything happens to Nurmagomedov or Ferguson because McGregor can be plugged into the main event slot if that’s the case. In that case, Gaethje will once again be left without an opponent.

Do you think Justin Gaethje will eventually get the fight he wants against Conor McGregor?