Is it back of the line for Justin Gaethje after a busy weekend of lightweight action at UFC 317?
Coming into International Fight Week, it seemed like Gaethje was well positioned to take on the winner of the Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira main event for the vacant lightweight title. “The Highlight” had bounced back from his nasty UFC 300 knockout loss to Max Holloway with a strong win over tough contender Rafael Fiziev at UFC 313, who came in as a late replacement for Dan Hooker.
No one would have blamed Gaethje for refusing the fight, but that would have left the UFC 313 pay-per-view looking pretty thin. But the company man came through for the UFC, earning another Fight of the Night bonus (his fourth bonus in a row).
“I knew that he (Charles Oliveira) would not be able to see me coming.”
Ilia Topuria (@TopuriaIlia) shares how reassured he was entering this bout at #UFC317 as he becomes the new lightweight champion with a dominant finish.
Main Card Results ➡️: https://t.co/5qTrHJMzHj
— UFC News (@UFCNews) June 29, 2025
At 3-1 over his last four, Gaethje’s management has suggested the hard-hitting fan favorite might retire if he doesn’t get a shot next. That didn’t sit well with UFC CEO Dana White, who called the threat ‘wacky.’ And now there’s a lot of heat for an Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett grudge match next after the two got into a shoving match in the cage following Topuria’s first round KO of Oliveira.
Topuria followed that up by saying Pimblett’s the man he wants next. And Gaethje?
“Fighting against Justin Gaethje, I don’t think that’s gonna be something exciting for the fans,” Topuria told ESPN following UFC 317. “We need new blood in the division. We need new faces that come hungrier than the guys that we are used to seeing in the past.”
“It doesn’t make sense for me to fight against someone like Justin Gaethje that comes from the old school, you know what I mean?” he told UFC News. “I wanna clean out a little bit the division, new faces, new guys. And I dunno, it’s gonna be very interesting.”
The good news is Topuria sounds excited to get back into the cage now that he no longer has to kill himself to make weight. He repeatedly said he’d be ready to fight again by the end of the year. So even if the UFC does give him the Pimblett fight that he’s calling for, a Gaethje fight could come in the first or second quarter of 2025.
But with other contenders like Arman Tsarukyan in the wings, he may have to fight for it.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
