JUSTIN GAETHJE believes 'people above' Dana White are telling him to book a Conor McGregor v Khabib Nurmagomedov rematch 'no matter what'.

'The Highlight' has vented his frustration at the UFC President's suggestion that McGregor is next in line for a shot against the lightweight champ.

1 McGregor and Khabib fought in October of 2018

McGregor makes his return to the Octagon later this month when he takes on Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in his first fight in over a year.

The Dubliner hasn't fought since he suffered a convincing submission loss to Khabib in October 2018 - and White says a rematch will be on the cards if they each win their upcoming fights.

Gaethje raged at White's comments late last year describing the situation as 'a crock of s**t'.

And he told SiriusXM: “He has people above him, telling him to put the fight together, this is the fight that’s going to make the most money, I’m sure, just looking from the outside in.

.@Justin_Gaethje tells @RJcliffordMMA and @OfficialAJHawk about the fights he's been offered and why Dana said he turns down fights. 🔊 pic.twitter.com/C4OSTidQ66 — MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) January 3, 2020

“So I’m guessing why he’s saying those things.

“I don’t think he’s actually trying to make me look bad, I’ve done everything that man could ever want from a fighter or an employee or someone that he pays money to watch.

"So I don’t think it’s necessarily anything personal against me, I think it’s people above him telling him they have to make that fight no matter what.”

White explained his decision to bump McGregor ahead of Gaethje and claims they offered the American fighter plenty of opportunities that he turned down - however Gaethje says that he has no idea what White means by this

He said: “I’ve been trying to figure out what he’s been talking about.

“I know when he did that interview not too long ago, he kept saying ‘Justin Gaethje knows what I’m talking about what’s going on, he knows what’s happening’. I literally had no idea what he was talking about, so it’s pretty crazy.

“I’m pretty sure it was, they offered me I think Tony Ferguson when Tony Ferguson fought Cowboy in June and they were looking for a replacement in that fight at the end of May.

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"I told them that it wasn’t enough time, but if they pushed it back a little farther I would take that fight then they turned the offer down.

"Then they asked if I want the Tony fight on the Abu Dhabi card and I said yes and he said no so I took the Cowboy fight the week after that.

“Just recently, they offered me Charles Oliveira in Brazil or Dan Hooker in New Zealand, all while the champion didn’t have a fight, McGregor was coming back and still looking for a fight. As far as I know, that’s what the deal is.”