Justin Gaethje Believes He Is The Toughest Matchup For Khabib Nurmagomedov

Fresh off another devastating knockout, this time against the No. 6-ranked lightweight in Edson Barboza at UFC Philadelphia over the weekend, Justin Gaethje now has his sights set on undefeated lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Saturday night’s matchup between “The Highlight” and his Brazilian counterpart guaranteed fireworks and the crowd certainly got what they paid for as both fighters exchanged in the pocket before Gaethje landed a right hook on Barboza as he was circling away.

After the result, Gaethje claimed that he has his eyes on the current champion, Nurmagomedov, and believes his wrestling and striking would cause the “The Eagle” a number of problems if they were to meet down the line.

“I’m on my way to Khabib and I want to fight him,” Gaethje said on the ESPN+ post-fight show. “I think I’m the toughest matchup for him. My wrestling, you guys haven’t seen it yet, I wrestled for 22 years. The last match I ever wrestled was in this arena. The NCAA tournament, I lost, and I was very excited to come back.”

The 30-year-old was an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler in college and coupled with his devastating leg kicks and berserker-like striking, he feels his wrestling skills pose some problems for the champ. Gaethje says he will now focus on the next challenge ahead of him but is ready for whichever opponent the UFC matches him with next.

“When the time comes, it’s kill or be killed,” Gaethje said. “If it’s you and me (Paul Felder), I don’t care who it is. It could be you, it could be Nate [Diaz], it could be Donald [Cerrone], it could be Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. I don’t care.”