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Justin Gaethje initially had revenge on his mind, but he’d put that to the side for a clash with Conor McGregor.

Gaethje has fought just about every high-level lightweight of his era that one can think of. He’s taken on the likes of Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, Ilia Topuria, Dustin Poirier, and Eddie Alvarez to name a few. The one name who has eluded him is McGregor.

While Gaethje suffered a brutal knockout loss to Holloway and was choked out by Oliveira, “The Highlight” told CBS Sports’ Damien Harris that he’d rather finally get his hands on “Mystic Mac” than get a chance at redemption (via MMAFighting).

“Damn, there’s really no one,” Gaethje said. “It would have been Oliveira or Holloway, but since Topuria beat them, I’m going to go ahead and justify it to myself like I got them back.

“So I guess McGregor. Fun to shut him up.”

Gaethje is the reigning UFC lightweight titleholder after Topuria failed to leave his stool for the fifth round of their UFC Freedom 250 clash back in June. Throughout his career, Gaethje had been chasing undisputed status. Now that he has achieved his goal, the fan favorite admits he’s in unfamiliar territory.

“It’s such a weird place to be in,” Gaethje said. “There’s always been a champion, I’ve always had somebody to chase. Now, being the champion, it’s like I just have to retain and hold onto what I have. I’m not looking at specific opponents, I know the best in the world are gunning for me. So that is the name of the game. I know that it’s going to be one of the best guys in the world.

“Arman [Tsarukyan] was fighting Oliveira, now he’s fighting someone else, so there’s a couple of big fights that are going to determine who I’ll fight next.”

Tsarukyan has a fight with Mauricio Ruffy scheduled for UFC 331 on Sept. 19. If “Batman” is able to win that bout, he could find himself challenging Gaethje for the top prize at 155 pounds. If Ruffy pulls off the upset, it would make things quite interesting for the UFC matchmakers.

Do you think Justin Gaethje should ditch the idea of fighting Conor McGregor, or is there still a chance the bout could take place? Sound off in the comments below.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM