UFC Want Justin Gaethje To Be Conor McGregor's Next Opponent

UFC want Justin Gaethje to go up against Conor McGregor in the Irishman's first fight back.

McGregor has not been back in the Octagon since October 2018 when he was humbled by arch rival Khabib Nurmagomedov.

He was slated to be back July and face Gaethje at Madison Square Garden until he needed surgery on his hand after breaking it during sparring.

But according to The Mirror, Dana White and UFC are still looking to make that fight happen.

Dustin Poirier, who has been going back and forth with McGregor on social media, had been rumoured as a potential opponent but his manager Ali Abdelaziz says the organisation want to go in a different direction after Gaethje's recent win over "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone.

Abdelaziz said:"They want him to fight Justin."

Last month, Gaethje posted a screenshot of a message he sent to McGregor on Instagram challenging him to a fight in Ireland

Image: PA

And just last week, the Arizona fighter ripped into McGregor for avoiding him.

"He keeps tweeting he's going to fight," the 34-year old said.

"On planet Earth, there are two people who could possibly fight him: Me or Dustin Poirier. He's only fought two times in the lightweight division in his whole career, he's fought two times, he lost one and won one.

"He's ranked No. 3 for some odd reason. He needs to either go away or fight. And it's either me or Dustin. He'll reply to Dustin on social media. He will not reply to me. I wrote a him message like f**king seven months ago just trying to be friendly.

"I've tried every route. I'm trying reverse psychology, I'm trying to be his friend. I'm trying every f**king route there is to draw this man out and I can't draw this man out. And he's calling out Frankie Edgar.

"It's a slap in the face to me, to all the lightweights and to the standards we f**king do here."

Image: PA

McGregor's trainer, John Kavanagh wants his fighter to take on Frankie Edgar in his first fight back and thinks the fans share that interest.

The 42-year-old told The Mac Life: "I think it was in the works when Conor was kind of going on that featherweight tear.

"He's an ex-champion, great fighter. Yeah, if it was me, I would love to see the Frankie Edgar fight this year if possible.

"And then go on another run in 2020."

Topics: Conor Mcgregor, Justin Gaethje, UFC News, MMA News, UFC, Dana White

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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