Despite laying out plans for his return to the lightweight ranks in the coming future, former interim titleholder, Justin Gaethje has confirmed he will call time on his storied career if he suffers a similar knockout loss to his UFC 300 defeat against Max Holloway.
Gaethje, a former interim lightweight gold holder and symbolic BMF championship winner, has been out of action since he suffered a staggering fifth round buzzer-beating knockout defeat to Hawaiian veteran, Holloway back in April.
Justin Gaethje reveals plans to retire from MMA in the future
And plotting his way back to action ahead of an appearance at Noche UFC over the course of last weekend, the Arizona native welcomed the chance to return against the surging Kiwi, Dan Hooker, as well as settling his differences in a trilogy rubber fight with Dustin Poirier.
“Yeah, Dan Hooker — I have a list, I think Hooker, (Charles) Oliveira, (Dustin) Poirier and (Alexander) Volkanovski is a list of four people that I think any of those would do for me what I need to do to get back in the (title) picture,” Justin Gaethje told assembled media during a scrum ahead of Noche UFC.
Furthermore, weighing up his immediate fighting future in mixed martial arts, perennial lightweight contender, Gaethje revealed that if he ever felled as devastatingly as his knockout loss to Holloway back at UFC 300, he would most definitely hang up his gloves from combat sports.
I’m not out of (the title race),” Justin Gaethje explained. “I’m not out of it right now, I’m not out of it tomorrow. This sport is so crazy, like I said Poirier lost to me and then got to fight for the belt. I do not believe I have reached that point, whether I’m the champion or not, who knows? It’s so hard to put a time if I ever go to sleep like I just did — I’m done.”
