Earlier this month, Justin Gaethje stepped in on short notice and stopped Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. The win earned Gaethje the UFC interim lightweight title and set him up for a title unification bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov later this year. It also, according to Gaethje, did something even more important: it cut through corporate politics of fighting.
Before UFC 249, Gaethje was viewed as the odd man out in the lightweight division. Tony Ferguson was set to challenge Khabib for the title, and Dana White was transparently angling for Conor McGregor to get the next title fight, leaving Gaethje and his three-fight KO streak in the lurch.