Through the course of Justin Gaethje’s career, there have been numerous memorable occasions. But UFC 291 has to rank at the top.
Gaethje won the BMF championship on Saturday in his 29th professional fight after stunning Dustin Poirier with a highlight-reel head kick at the minute mark of the second round. Gaethje likely secured himself a crack at the lightweight title in early 2024 after avenging a TKO loss to Poirier in their first meeting in 2018.
The ending was uncannily evocative of Leon Edwards’ head kick against Kamaru Usman in their welterweight championship bout in August at Salt Lake City’s Delta Center, which Edwards used to upset Usman. Poirier was flushed as a result of Gaethje’s high head kick that followed his jab.
When Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal squared off in the main event of UFC 244 in New York City in 2019, the BMF title was first established. Masvidal never attempted to defend the symbolic championship, but he did retire in April, which allowed the UFC to schedule its second BMF title match.
With six knockout victories, Gaethje (25-4) is presently tied for fifth place in the annals of lightweight knockouts. Prior to the completion of the first round, Poirier cut himself with straight left hands, putting him through some hardship. Gaethje dodged the blows with his eyes and showed signs of discomfort, but he ultimately wiped the blood away and carried on.
Conor McGregor, a former double champion, was alerted to the outcome and immediately issued a challenge to Gaethje on social media. After “The Ultimate Fighter” concludes, McGregor is anticipated to meet Michael Chandler at some time. The two co-starred in Las Vegas earlier this year during the filming of the reality series.
McGregor seemed to be saying in his tweets that he would like to fight Gaethje over Chandler.
“Justin, I’ll slap you around,” McGregor wrote on Twitter. “I’m the real BMF, he can fight for pennies if he wants but I want spirits, I call the shots, I’m in it to launch shots, f— Chandler, you want it call for it.”
Gaethje has already stated that he would be open to facing McGregor, but UFC gold has been his top priority. He defeated Tony Ferguson to claim the interim UFC championship in 2020, but Khabib Nurmagomedov prevented him from unifying the championship later that year. In 2022, he again went up against the champion Charles Oliveira for the belt but was defeated by submission.
The current champion, Islam Makhachev, will defend the title against Oliveira in a rematch on October 21 at UFC 294.
“I want to fight for the world championship,” Gaethje said. “These guys are fighting in October. Win, lose or draw, I’ll give max effort. I’m willing to roll the dice every day.”
It was Poirier’s first knockout loss since 2016 (29-8). His first appearance of 2023 occurred on Saturday. He defeated Chandler by submission at UFC 281, which took place in November.
