Justin Gaethje intends to return to the Octagon, but he’s in no rush to rush things.
Gaethje was put on the back burner with a brutal last-second KO loss to Max Holloway in his BMF title fight at UFC 300 earlier this month. “The Highlight” also suffered a broken nose early in the match, and in the losing match took over 180 serious blows, 62 of which were to his head. When asked about a return to the UFC, the former interim lightweight champion couldn’t answer the question, but said he will spend most of the rest of 2024 in the gym and out of contact before planning his next move. I know it will happen.
“Metaphorically speaking, I might be ready tomorrow, but physically I want to take care of myself,” Gaethje said on MMA Hangout. “I think it’s stupid to have multiple concussions, stay in bed like that, get that shot, and go back to training 180 days ago.
“I can do cardio, I can stay in shape, and that’s what I want to do, especially [with] The older I get, the harder it is to get back into the best shape of my life, so I want to stay active. Obviously, physical contact is going to be limited for quite some time just because I want to protect myself. …I think it will be at least six months before I get back to filming. But that doesn’t mean you won’t train all the time. ”
Before facing Holloway on the historic card, Gaethje was widely seen as the frontrunner for Islam Makhachev’s lightweight title. Gaethje may have a lot of work to do to get back into the championship conversation, as perhaps the most competitive division in the sport is only getting deeper.
However, if Dustin Poirier can pull off a huge upset over Makhachev in the main event of UFC 302 on June 1st, Gaethje will likely face Poirier for a third time and settle the two-fight draw. you can put it on. But then again, MMA is the Wild West and a lot can change over time.
“This is a crazy game,” Gaethje said. “Let’s see what happens to Dustin.” [and] The match against Makhachev continues. Crazy game. ”
