Ali Abdelaziz believes Conor McGregor doesn’t want to fight Justin Gaethje and the UFC made the right choice by not booking that fight.

McGregor will make his highly-anticipated return to the Octagon on Jan. 18 against Donald Cerrone. After that, should he win, the Irishman has said he is interested in fighting Justin Gaethje, who he says is on his “list.”

According to Abdelaziz, Conor McGregor is not actually interested in this fight, and if it does happen, Gaethje would win.

“Listen, Conor does not want to have to do anything with Gaethje,” Abdelaziz told TMZ Sports. “We understand, Gaethje takes a lot of people into deep water. We understand Conor is a quitter. He quits when he’s in deep water. Why the hell does he need to fight. The UFC made the right choice not to [have him] fight Gaethje because he would have beat his a**. Simple.”

Whether or not that scrap happens is to be seen. Currently, Justin Gaethje does not have a fight booked. UFC president Dana White claims Gaethje has been turning down fights and has therefore been passed for the next title shot.

Yet, Abdelaziz says Gaethje is still next in line for the title shot considering he is on a three-fight winning streak with all three wins coming by first-round knockout.

“Logically, he is [next],” Abdelaziz said of Gaethje. “He’s ranked number three. Number two Dustin Poirier fought for the title. That’s the only fight that makes sense for him, for his career, to fight the champion.”

Regardless, Conor McGregor vs. Justin Gaethje would no doubt be a very interesting fight and one that makes sense in the division if the Irishman wins on Jan. 18.

Do you agree with Ali Abdelaziz that Conor McGregor does not want to fight Justin Gaethje?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/6/2020.