Justin Gaethje has reacted after losing out on a proposed UFC matchup with Michael Chandler on May 15.
Earlier this week it was reported that a bout between Gaethje and Chandler was in the works for UFC 262.
However, after Khabib Nurmagomedov officially confirmed his retirement yesterday evening, the promotion decided to book Chandler against Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title at May’s pay-per-view event.
That decision has left Justin Gaethje as the odd man out, as in addition to Chandler vs Oliveira, the UFC has already announced its intentions to book fellow top contenders Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier in a trilogy bout for later this summer.
Now unsure what will come next, Justin Gaethje took to Twitter where he issued the following statement.
”I woke up yesterday to train for a matchup with Chandler on May 15th expecting a bout agreement any moment. Today that is not the case, I don’t know what I do yet but I like this feeling. It was a good day at sparring practice.” – Gaethje wrote.
‘The Highlight’ has not competed since suffering a submission loss to the aforementioned Khabib Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC 254 this past October.
Prior to that setback, Justin Gaethje was coming off a fifth round TKO victory over Tony Ferguson.
Among the options left for Gaethje would be Dan Hooker, Rafael Dos Anjos, Islam Makhachev or perhaps Nate Diaz.
Meanwhile, Chandler made his Octagon debut earlier this year, where he scored a first round knockout victory over Dan Hooker. That win was preceded by another first round KO which came over former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson under the Bellator banner.
