Categories: MMA

Morning Report: Justin Gaethje critical of his own ‘boring’ fight against Michael Chandler, wants to fight Charles Oliveira in Brazil

Justin Gaethje holds himself to a higher standard of violence than most.

Gaethje is arguably the most exciting fighter in UFC history, having secured 10 post-fight bonuses in his nine UFC fights, six of which have been Fight of the Nights. He also won Fight of the Year honors in 2017 and 2018 for his bouts against Michael Johnson and Dustin Poirier respectively, and this past year, Gaethje added another Fight of the Year honor to his mantle for his win over Michael Chandler at UFC 268. But though the bout was good enough to be voted Fight of the Year, it wasn’t good enough for Gaethje himself.

“To be completely honest with you, I feel like that was kind of a boring fight when I was in there,” Gaethje told BT Sport. “Yeah, it just makes no sense. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to win more than to knock somebody out. So yeah, it was not good. I didn’t like it. I want to go back to just wanting to hurt somebody and finish them. But now that I have won, I got my title shot, I can go back to how it should be.”

While Gaethje may be a bit disappointed with the process, he certainly isn’t upset with the result. The win over Chandler has positioned Gaethje as the next title contender at lightweight, following Charles Oliveira’s submission victory over Dustin Poirier earlier this month. And with the UFC rumored to be returning to Brazil in May for a light heavyweight title fight between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka, Gaethje is hoping to make it a title fight double header.

“I want to go down to Brazil,” Gaethje said. “I want to fight in the chaos. If you go back and listen to my earlier interviews, I said I wanted to go to the enemy territory, like Brazil, and fight in that chaos. Them screaming ‘I’m gonna die,’ 20,000 people, I am 100 percent confident that when I’m done, they’ll love me….

“There’s a card in Brazil, May 7th. I want to fight the Brazilian champion in Brazil. I want the chaos.”


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VIDEO STEW

Top UFC KOs in light heavyweight history.

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Paddy Pimblett fight camp.

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LISTEN UP

Fighter vs. Writer. Curtis Blaydes discusses Francis Ngannou’s contract situation.


SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Ciryl Gane.

Jake Paul teasing something big.

Beef.

Chael Sonnen may be the hardest working man in MMA. He certainly is one of the busiest.

LOL.

Not something I expected to read today.

Anniversary.

Fight poster.

Tough edit.


FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Nathaniel Wood (17-5) vs. Liudvik Sholinian (9-2-1); UFC London, Mar. 19.

Lamo Mohamed Camara (4-1) vs. Kenny Mokhonoana (2-0); UAE Warriors, Mar. 20.

Chris Curtis (28-8) vs. Dricus Du Plessis (16-2); UFC 273, Apr. 9.

Vicente Luque (21-7-1) vs. Belal Muhammad (20-3, 1 NC); UFC Fight Night, Apr. 16.

Denise Kielholtz (6-3) vs. Kana Watanabe (10-1-1); Bellator London, May 13.

Daniel Weichel (41-13) vs. Robert Whiteford (16-4); Bellator London, May 13.


FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.


EXIT POLL


If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.

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