Justin Gaethje forced to respond to wild conspiracy theory about Ilia Topuria fight at White House

Justin Gaethje has addressed one of the wildest conspiracy theories about his win over Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250.

Gaethje captured the Lightweight Championship with a shocking victory over Topuria on the White House lawn last weekend.

Topuria entered the bout as the heavy favourite, with 'El Matador' confident of keeping his undefeated record.

All that changed in the third round of their fight. Gaethje mustered up the strength to unload on Topuria, who quit at the end of the fourth round while looking totally unrecognisable on his stool.

'The Highlight' pocketed a $825,000 bonus for Performance of the Night and the praise of UFC president Dana White. “It was Fight of the Night, Fight of the Year, fight of the whatever — it was one of the greatest fights you’ll ever see. It was incredible,” White declared in his post-fight press conference.

Gaethje's dominance saw some circles within the MMA community speculate if the 37-year-old illegally tampered with his gloves. During an appearance on Joe Rogan's JRE MMA Show, Gaethje and head coach Trevor Wittman decided to speak out.

During a discussion with Rogan, Wittman interjected with: "How about the people calling out his loaded gloves? Did you see the picture, the image - there's, like, rocks in his hands?"

Rogan and Wittman both concluded that the claims were being made by people with a lack of knowledge about MMA. Gaethje then replied: "What a compliment. People saying I'm juiced (using steroids) - what a compliment. People saying I got bricks in my f**king gloves - what a compliment."

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Gaethje decides on Topuria rematch

The question on everyone's lips is whether Gaethje will give Topuria a chance to run it back in the future.

Topuria congratulated Gaethje on his win in an Instagram post earlier this week, before expressing his desire for a rematch.

Despite it being a big-money fight for all involved, Gaethje isn't interested. He told Topuria he needs to turn his attention to Paddy Pimblett, who went the distance but ultimately lost to Gaethje in January.

"He doesn't get a rematch. He can try, but he doesn't get one," Gaethje declared. "He quit on the stool. He quit twice. I stopped him twice. What else do I have to f**king do? His next challenge can't be me. He needs to fight Paddy [Pimblett] or someone like that."

Among the names waiting for Gaethje in the lightweight division are Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan.

Regardless of what's next for both men, they'll have to serve mandatory medical suspensions from the Association of Boxing and Combative Sports Commissions (ABC). Both men will be out of action for at least 180 days.