Justin Gaethje believes Conor McGregor is following the same path that served as Ronda Rousey’s downfall, at least in the world of MMA.
Gaethje has been angling for a bout with McGregor, but it appears that fight is out of his grasp. McGregor announced that he’ll be making his return to the Octagon on Jan. 18. UFC president Dana White confirmed that the promotion is looking at booking McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone in Las Vegas.
Justin Gaethje Says McGregor Is Falling As Rousey Did
Rousey is a pioneer for women’s MMA. She had six successful title defenses of the UFC women’s bantamweight gold. “Rowdy’s” KO loss to Holly Holm, followed by a TKO defeat to Amanda Nunes marked the end of her MMA career. Speaking to TMZ Sports, Gaethje said that McGregor is going down that road (via MMAFighting.com).
“I truly believe that he is scared to fight the fight that he has to fight against me,” Gaethje said. “I think he’s looking for a sure win. At the end of the day, there’s only two ways out with me. You either knock me out – I wouldn’t finish him like Khabib did, I wouldn’t take his neck. I’d make him stand up and then I’d make him take it like a man. That’s one thing I know deep down he’s terrified of and that’s one thing I bring to the table.
“I think he knows that he needs a win but at the end of the day this is gonna be another Ronda Rousey story. He dug himself too deep of a hole and there’s no way he can come out of it. He’s gonna get knocked out and he’s gonna go away.”
McGregor hasn’t competed since his Oct. 2018 submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov. The “Notorious” one hasn’t earned a win since Nov. 2016 when he became the UFC lightweight champion. McGregor took a hiatus from competition after his Aug. 2017 boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather and was stripped of the gold as a result.
