Justin Gaethje trash talks Conor McGregor ahead of first UFC fight
Justin Gaethje, a former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion who signed with the UFC in May, is gearing up for his fight with Michael Johnson on July 7 in Las Vegas as the main event for the “The Ultimate Fighter” finale card.
But Gaethje wasted little time in taking his trash talk to another level — and directed his verbal jabs at the sport’s biggest name (and trash-talker). Gaethje was brash in his belief that he would match up well with Conor McGregor, the Irish southpaw fighter who’s prepping for a highly-anticipated Aug. 26 boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.
“Skill-wise, there’s nobody that’s gonna outwork me,” Gaethje said on the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “(McGregor) will out-talk me, that’s for damn sure. But he ain’t gonna outwork me. His skill is special, he’s got a great left hand.”
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Gaethje then decided to reference McGregor’s second-round submission loss to Nate Diaz in their first welterweight meeting in 2016.
“He’s got quit in his heart,” Gaethje said of McGregor. “And once a quitter, always a quitter.
“I’m gonna get that opportunity. I’m gonna get the interim belt around my waist and then, when (McGregor) comes back, he has to fight me. I’ll make it a war, everything he doesn’t want it to be.”