Justin Gaethje Unimpressed with ‘Kind of Boring Fight’ Against Michael Chandler at UFC 268

Apparently Sherdog.com's 2021 "Fight of the Year" winner wasn’t all that impressive to Justin Gaethje.

Gaethje, whose scintillating lightweight clash with Michael Chandler at Madison Square Garden last November took home top fight honors from more than a few publications, reminisced on the bout during an interview with BT Sport. His assessment of the action focused more on the disappointment of not finishing Chandler than anything else.

“To be completely honest with you, I feel like that was kind of a boring fight when I was in there,” Gaethje said. “Yeah, it just makes no sense. It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to win more than to knock somebody out.

“So yeah, it was not good. I didn’t like it. I want to go back to just wanting to hurt somebody and finish them. But now that I have won, I got my title shot, I can go back to how it should be.”

The former World Series of Fighting champion has won five of his last six outings, and his unanimous verdict over Chandler seems to have locked up his status as No. 1 contender. In his ideal world, Gaethle would face reigning 155-pound champion Charles Oliveira in hostile territory.

“I want to go down to Brazil,” Gaethje said. “I want to fight in the chaos. If you go back and listen to my earlier interviews, I said I wanted to go to the enemy territory, like Brazil, and fight in that chaos. Them screaming ‘I’m gonna die,’ 20,000 people, I am 100 percent confident that when I’m done, they’ll love me....

“There’s a card in Brazil, May 7. I want to fight the Brazilian champion in Brazil. I want the chaos.”

Whether that location holds up remains to be seen. While UFC 274 was initially expected to be held in Rio de Janeiro, the event now reportedly will be moved to the United States.