{"id":250277,"date":"2026-06-27T08:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/justin-gaethje-would-love-to-punch-conor-mcgregor-in-the-face\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T08:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:38:10","slug":"justin-gaethje-would-love-to-punch-conor-mcgregor-in-the-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/justin-gaethje-would-love-to-punch-conor-mcgregor-in-the-face\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Gaethje would &#8220;love to punch&#8221; Conor McGregor &#8220;in the face&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5184505\" data-slug-id=\"2800499\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It appears Justin Gaethje believes he still has a fight or two left before calling it a career. However, the newly crowned lightweight champion seems more interested in a showdown with Conor McGregor than putting his title on the line against the No.1 contender.<\/p>\n<p>Speculation surrounding Gaethje&#8217;s potential retirement following his title win over Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 has been rampant of late. However, during a recent appearance on The Jim Rome Show, &#8216;The Highlight&#8217; revealed that he&#8217;ll be closely watching McGregor&#8217;s return against Max Holloway at UFC 329.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-he-got-beaten-badly-michael-bisping-questions-ilia-topuria-s-ability-bounce-back-brutal-justin-gaethje-loss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">newly crowned<\/a> lightweight champion reiterated that he would welcome the opportunity to finally face &#8216;The Notorious&#8217;, a matchup he has publicly expressed interest in on multiple occasions:<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m very interested to see what happens in that fight. Max definitely knocked me out, but I feel like I got that one back with the Ilia Topuria fight. As I&#8217;ve stated hundreds of times publicly, I would love to punch Conor McGregor in the face. I&#8217;m excited about that fight. I&#8217;m excited to be there and watch it.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"bottom-tagline top\" data-tab=\"top\">\n<p>Get the latest updates on One Championship <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/one-championship-rankings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\" class=\"bottom_tagline_link\" data-tab=\"top\">Rankings<\/a> at Sportskeeda and more<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gaethje believes that defeating McGregor, one of the biggest names in the sport, would do wonders for his legacy:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I mean, there&#8217;s no doubt he&#8217;s one of the biggest superstars in the sport, so fighting a guy like that, you know, obviously does great things for me, financially and for my legendary status and stuff like that.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Check out Justin Gaethje&#8217;s comments on a potential clash with Conor McGregor below:<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Conor McGregor says beat Justin Gaethje &#8220;handily&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/conor-mcgregor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Conor McGregor<\/a> is brimming with confidence in the lead-up to his comeback fight against Max Holloway. The former two-division champion believes he&#8217;ll handily defeat the newly crowned 155-pound kingpin, Justin Gaethje, in a fight.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/vbGlTRU1fJ0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Speaking to<\/a> veteran combat sport journalist Ariel Helwani, &#8216;The Notorious&#8217; claimed that while Gaethje was a decent fighter when he hits his stride, he is &#8220;atrocious&#8221; when he is not in his element:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think Gaethje is, when he is on, he&#8217;s good, he&#8217;s okay. But when he is off atrocious. I fancy [beating] him handily. I fancy teeing off on Gaethje.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Ujwal Jain<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-justin-gaethje-love-punch-conor-mcgregor-in-face\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It appears Justin Gaethje believes he still has a fight or two left before calling it a career. However, the newly crowned lightweight champion seems more interested in a showdown with Conor McGregor than putting his title on the line against the No.1 contender. Speculation surrounding Gaethje&#8217;s potential retirement following his title win over Ilia [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-250277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}