Justin Gaethje knows time is ticking on his career, especially if his next fight turns out like his previous one.
The sight of Gaethje lying face down on the mat at UFC 300 is still fresh in the minds of many fight fans. Gaethje put his “BMF” title—and his No. 1 contender spot at lightweight—on the line against Max Holloway this past April and at the conclusion of a fight that Holloway largely dominated, the Hawaiian star put a cap on his performance with a thrilling knockout of Gaethje in the final seconds.
Gaethje, 35, has spoken about a possible retirement following that loss, but clarified the conditions under which he’d call it a career speaking to the media ahead of UFC 306 this Saturday.
“The direct quote was, ‘Once I know that I cannot win an undisputed championship belt or fight for one, then I might as well hang up the gloves,’” Gaethje said. “I do not believe I have reached that point. Whether I’m the champion or not in the next - Who knows? It’s so hard to predict.
“If I ever go to sleep, like I just went to sleep, I’m done. I’m not doing it two more times. I’ll do that one more time if I have to, I’m not choosing that, but it’s always a possibility, and if it happens, I’m done. But outside that, I don’t know, it’s hard to put a number.”
More often than not, Gaethje has been the hammer rather than the nail throughout his 13-year run as a pro. Of his 25 wins, 20 have come by way of knockout, while he’s been put away with strikes just three times.
Though Gaethje is hoping to never experience a loss like the one he suffered against Holloway again, he rattled off a few potential opponents that are all threats to put him down inside the distance.
“I have a list,” Gaethje said. [Dan] 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 picture.”
Should Gaethje fight Oliveira or Poirier, it would be the second time he’s shared the octagon with those contenders. Gaethje was submitted inside of a round by Oliveira at UFC 274, but bounced back with a win over Rafael Fiziev in his next fight and then scored a head-kick knockout of Poirier at UFC 291.
The loss to Holloway allowed Poirier to leapfrog Gaethje in the contender line, though Poirier’s UFC 302 fight with lightweight champion Islam Makhachev ended in defeat. Considering Gaethje’s defeated Poirier a little over a year ago, he doesn’t see why a strong performance can’t put him right back into position for a title shot.
Now it’s just a matter of returning when the time is right.
“I said I was going to take six months before I sparred,” Gaethje said of his post-UFC 300 plan. “It’s been four, and I’m going to have a difficult time making it six months, because I’m itching. I think I’m going to give it another month before I spar and then get back into camp, so we’ll see. Coach, manager will decide.”
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