Jon Anik went on his "Anik Bros" YouTube channel and said there are "internal conversations to potentially try to do Gaethje vs. Topuria 2." He doubled down on X, writing that the UFC has "gotta at least kick the tires on running back the main event of the biggest show in company history." He's not wrong that it would be enormous. That June title fight at UFC Freedom 250, staged on the White House South Lawn, was one of the biggest events the UFC has ever put on. Gaethje dethroned Topuria there, doing so much damage that Topuria broke both orbital bones and a septum and quit on his stool after the fourth round. A rematch would print money, and nobody's arguing otherwise.
But Anik himself called this "my non-informed speculation." He said it as of "late August," his read, not a UFC plan. And the man who actually holds the belt keeps telling anyone who asks that he isn't fighting anytime soon.
Gaethje already answered this
Gaethje told Sports Illustrated that both hands are still hurt and he can't punch yet. His words: "Both of my hands are still hurt from the fight so I'm just going to enjoy being the champion for the rest of the year because I fought two times already in the first six months." That reads like a return no earlier than 2027. He's also openly weighing whether to keep fighting at all, with his 38th birthday coming in November.
Then he addressed the rematch directly: "I guess if I'm not fighting until next year, [Topuria is] probably not going to fight until next year, too, seeing as he's still recovering from some things. I don't think that's my next fight, in my gut."
The champion doesn't want the rematch, may not fight until 2027, and is openly thinking about walking away. Building a plan around the one fight he just told you isn't happening isn't matchmaking. It's a trailer for a movie nobody's shooting.
Anik made the fair point that it won't be up to Gaethje, and Gaethje conceded as much: "Ultimately the UFC makes the decision on who I'm going to fight next." Fine. But you can't fast-track a fight around a guy who physically can't throw a punch. The belt sitting on ice until 2027 is the real story here, and a Topuria rematch does nothing to solve it.
The UFC already made a better promise
While everyone chews on Anik's tire-kicking, look at what the UFC has actually committed to on the record.
Arman Tsarukyan, ranked second at lightweight, meets No. 7 Mauricio Ruffy in the UFC 331 co-main event on Sept. 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. According to Tsarukyan, he's got a verbal, handshake deal from chief business officer Hunter Campbell that a win earns him a title shot. That's his account, not a signed bout agreement. But Ruffy has said the same thing from his side, that the UFC told him the winner gets a shot at 155. Two fighters, independently, describing this as the eliminator.
That's a real, concrete claim on the next title shot, and it beats anything attached to a Topuria rematch right now. Tsarukyan comes in on a five-fight win streak, last seen submitting Dan Hooker in Qatar back in November 2025. If he beats Ruffy, especially if he finishes him, you have a healthy, ready contender the UFC has already all but promised the fight to.
So book it. If Gaethje is sidelined into 2027, the cleanest move is an interim title between the Tsarukyan-Ruffy winner and the next best available body. That keeps the division moving and rewards the guys who keep showing up, instead of leaving the whole weight class stuck waiting on a fight the champion is talking himself out of.
And if you want a spectacle, you've already got one
A rematch isn't the only fight big enough for a healed-up Topuria.
Paddy Pimblett will happily give you the grudge match. Asked about Topuria, Pimblett said, "I'd love to smash his head in, lad," while making clear no talks have happened: "Nothing [has been discussed] yet. No one's spoken to me about it, so we'll see what happens." He wants to fight again in December if he can. This is a guy who opened 2026 losing to Gaethje in an interim title bout at UFC 324, then turned around at UFC 329 and put Benoit Saint Denis to sleep in 52 seconds with a Peruvian necktie. He sells, he talks, and he's available.
Worth being straight about one thing: the December Pimblett-Topuria rumor traces back to Sean O'Malley's coach Tim Welch saying he'd heard it, not to any "internal conversations" the way Anik framed the rematch. It's rumor-of-a-rumor. But it's a fight two willing men could make now, against a fight one unwilling, injured man says is a 2027 problem at best.
Topuria vs. Pimblett keeps the marquee lights on while the belt is frozen. It gives Topuria a real fight to climb back with while he finishes recovering, gives the UFC a pay-per-view, and doesn't require pretending Gaethje said something he didn't.
The bottom line
A Topuria rematch is the best highlight reel and the worst plan. It's built on a fight the champion doesn't want, a timeline that runs into 2027, and a champion openly flirting with retirement. Meanwhile the UFC has a title eliminator on Sept. 19 and a screaming grudge match sitting right there.
Run back the biggest fight in company history someday, sure. Just don't let the whole lightweight division sit in a waiting room until Gaethje's hands heal and his mind's made up. Right now, that's exactly where this is headed. Fix it now.
