“I read somewhere that Gaethje said he would vacate the belt to fight Conor. You can’t do that. It would harm his legacy to give away the belt & put value in the money fight over being the champ. Probably was just talking, but Justin’s got options. Arman is a star, there’s Ilia too”
That’s Daniel Cormier, in comments posted Monday on X by @DovySimuMMA. Note the first four words. Cormier “read somewhere” that Justin Gaethje would walk away from his title to fight Conor McGregor, and nothing in front of us confirms Gaethje actually said it. Cormier himself figures it was probably just talk.
The talk exists because the money is real. Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday that ticket prices for UFC 329 have reached new heights with McGregor’s return, which is exactly the kind of number that makes a champion wonder what a belt is worth.
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Cormier’s answer is that it’s worth more than a check. He wants Gaethje to keep the strap and look at the guys he named instead, “Arman” and “Ilia,” both of whom he clearly views as legitimate draws in their own right.
Nobody needs a refresher on why McGregor moves prices like this, but here it is anyway. He was the first fighter to hold UFC titles in two weight classes at the same time, winning featherweight gold by knocking out José Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194 and lightweight gold against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. He has headlined the five best-selling pay-per-views in UFC history.
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The biggest of those landed eight years ago Tuesday. On Oct. 6, 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor at UFC 229, and then everything after the horn turned into a brawl. That card drew 2.4 million PPV buys, still the most ever for an MMA event, and the anniversary had MMA Junkie, UFC Europe and half of fight Twitter reposting the footage while the SBJ numbers were circulating.
The resume today is less shiny than the box office. McGregor is 22-7 and sits at No. 27 at welterweight in the Knockout Daily rankings, fighting out of SBG Ireland.
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Which brings it back to Gaethje. The sources don’t confirm who McGregor fights at UFC 329, and they don’t confirm Gaethje is giving up anything. If he does chase the payday, Cormier has already written the review. My take is simpler: if the fans are paying record prices for Conor, the champion standing across from him should still be a champion when he walks out.
