LOS ANGELES – Justin Gaethje didn’t come straight out on Tuesday and tell Dan Hooker to get his name out of his mouth. But he basically said so in all but those words.
Hooker had an impressive victory over Al Iaquinta on Saturday at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia, and afterward targeted both Gaethje, the former WSOF lightweight champion, and Poirier, the former interim UFC lightweight titleholder, as logical next steps as he reaches the top rungs of the 155-pound ladder.
But Gaethje believes the only fights which make sense for him at this stage of his career would be matchups with either current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagmedov or former champ Conor McGregor. And at Dominance MMA media day, “The Highlight” made it plain that he would consider a Hooker fight a big step backwards.
“It doesn’t make sense at all,” Hooker told MMA Junkie. “Business-wise, it makes absolute zero sense. He just got his ass beat by Edson Barboza, so, for him to cross over that name and mention my name or Dustin Poirier’s name was kind of a (expletive) move.”
Perhaps sensing how far he went with his words, Gaethje, whose win over Donald Cerrone last month in Vancouver was his third straight victory by stoppage, walked things back somewhat, as he gave the New Zealander credit for what as undeniably an impressive performance against one of the game’s toughest outs in Iaquinta.
“I shouldn’t knock him for it, because it’s what he should be doing,” Gaethje said of the callouts. “It was a great win, great win, great performance, good for him. You know, if he keeps winning, then we’ll fight.
But Gaethje re-emphasized that he considers this his time, and that maybe Hooker’s time will come somewhere down the road.
“He’s going to talk (expletive) about me, talk (expletive) about Poirier coming off a loss,” Gaethje said. “But I have deserved, I deserve to be where I am at, and I don’t deserve to fight Dan Hooker.”
To hear more from Gaethje, check out the video above.
Justin Gaethje: Dan Hooker made '(expletive) move' calling out me, Dustin Poirier