Morning Report: Justin Gaethje: Rematch with Max Holloway would be ‘dream fight’

Justin Gaethje hopes for one more dance with Max Holloway.

UFC 300 was an unforgettable night of action that lived up to the hype and then some. In what many considered the evening’s unofficial main event, fans were treated to the unsurprisingly magical first “BMF” title defense. Unfortunately for the now-former champion Gaethje, the all-time great featherweight Holloway returned to lightweight for the first time in five years and looked better than ever.

After getting the best of his counterpart three rounds to one on two judges’ scorecards, Holloway didn’t want the decision win as he scored a chaotic last-second knockout. The loss snapped Gaethje’s two-fight winning streak and held him back from an expected shot at undisputed gold. Currently taking a break to heal up from the war, the 35-year-old Gaethje admits a second “Blessed” bout would be his dream fight.

“It’s hard to picture myself fighting someone from a different era,” Gaethje said on FULL SEND GOLF. “I already fought most of the people I would have answered like [Donald] ‘Cowboy’ [Cerrone], [Edson] Barboza, Eddie [Alvarez], Dustin [Poirier], Max [Holloway] … I wouldn’t mind getting the Max fight back, but that’s probably because of recency bias. My last loss, so you always want that one back.

“Poirier beat me, I got to get that one back, that was nice. Get a little redemption. Not often you get that chance in this sport.”

Holloway, 32, still has the option to return to lightweight, whether to defend his BMF title or pursue undisputed gold, but until a door opens, he’s turned his attention towards featherweight champion Ilia Topuria. Meanwhile, Poirier is next to challenge 155-pound champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 in June.

In his 30-fight career (25-5), Gaethje has made good on his two rematches against Luis Palomino and Poirier with second-round stoppage victories by strikes. Unlike against Palomino, however, Gaethje lost his initial encounter with Poirier via a fourth-round TKO in their April 2018 clash.

Gaethje scored his aforementioned redemption over Poirier with a stunning head kick in their BMF title tilt at UFC 291 this past August. Despite pulling off the highlight-reel strike, it even caught Gaethje by surprise.

“Yeah, I was shocked,” Gaethje said. “You just never know, dude. You go in there, you throw everything and then sometimes one of them works. It doesn’t necessarily make sense why. I threw it two times before that in the first round and didn’t clip him like that. Just a crazy game.

“You think everything’s gonna work, nothing works. You think nothing’s gonna work then one thing works. It’s why it’s so interesting, though. You don’t know what the f*ck’s going on.”

TOP STORIES

Failure. Ryan Garcia tests positive for banned substance in Devin Haney fight, Garcia responds

Featherweight. Alexander Volkanovski believes Max Holloway can make Ilia Topuria fight ‘look easy’

Territory. Steve Erceg expects ‘bottles to be thrown at me’ following win over Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301

Obsolete. Matt Brown rips boxing promoters refusing to follow UFC’s lead: ‘They’re still stuck in the 1990s’

Roundtable. UFC 301: Is Alexandre Pantoja ripe for an upset?

Confidence. Ilia Topuria has ‘no doubt’ he’ll be ‘highest-paid athlete in the world’ in 2025

VIDEO STEW

UFC 301 Media Day and Staredowns.

Sound & Pound.

Embedded 3.

Petrino’s best finishes.

RIZIN 47 Trailer.

Invicta 8 KOs.

The War Room: Aldo vs. Martinez.

Wonderboy breaks down Vincenzo.

Fancy Pantoja-Erceg Preview.

LISTEN UP

No Bets Barred. MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Conner Burks discuss if Jose Aldo and Alexandre Pantoja will give Brazil something to cheer about at UFC 301.

MORNING MUSIC

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Let’s get to fighting, gents.

Dream on.

Beautiful.

Footage.

Gettin’ rowdy.

Royalty.

Nice view.

Imagine if.

Dangerous.

Alaska.

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kim Kyung Pyo (13-4) vs. Spike Carlyle (14-6); RIZIN 47, June 9

Sho Patruick Usami (6-2) vs. Kazuki Tokudome (20-11-1); RIZIN 47, June 9

FINAL THOUGHTS

It doesn’t make sense all too soon, of course. I don’t think anyone could complain about a rematch of Holloway-Gaethje 2, though.

Thanks for reading!

EXIT POLL

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