Justin Gaethje closing in on UFC deal
With his World Series of Fighting (WSOF) contract finished, Justin Gaethje is apparently UFC bound in the near future.
After successfully defending his WSOF lightweight champion for the fifth time at WSOF 34, Gaethje has been given a public send-off from the promotion’s president Ray Sefo.
Wishing @Justin_Gaethje all the best fighting for @UFC & excited to crown a new $1 million Lightweight champion
— Ray Sefo (@SugarRaySefo) April 27, 2017
In addition to the farewell from Sefo, MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani has also reported that the 28-year-old is set to put pen to paper with the UFC with a debut bout against the #5 ranked Edson Barboza discussed for later this year.
A name that's been discussed for Gaethje's potential debut in July is Barboza but not done and might not even happen. Too early to say.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) April 27, 2017
Gaethje (17-0) has been widely applauded for his fan-friendly fighting style and holds an 82% knockout ratio with all five of his title defences coming via knockout. ‘The Highlight’ holds wins over Nick Newell, Melvin Guillard and PRIDE FC veteran Luiz Firmino while the Trevor Whittman trained fighter has also had three of his victories come via leg kick TKO.