By FCF Staff

It remains to be seen what comes next for Justin Gaethje. But, his manager’s reporting that if the lightweight contender doesn’t get tapped for a title shot, he’s signalled he will retire.

Following Gaethje’s decision win over Rafael Fiziev in March, the consensus was he was one of the names being considered to fight for the UFC’s now vacated lightweight title. Ultimately, however, former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria was booked to fight former champ, Charles Oliveira on June 28th.

More recently, Gaethje’s manager Ali Abdelaziz was a guest on Submission Radio. While talking about Gaethje, he reported that the fan-favorite informed him that if he doesn’t fight for the belt, he will walk away from fighting (quotes via MMA Fighting.com).

“Justin Gaethje fights the winner. He’s won three of his last four, he saved the UFC two times. They needed him, and he’s there. The guy did so much for the sport. If anyone said he doesn’t deserve it—he said, ‘If I’m not going to fight for the title, I’m just going to hang up my gloves.’”

“He’s a very principled guy,” Abdelaziz added. “I never—he feels strongly about this. He told me this yesterday. I was at the fight, he said, ‘I’m not going to get a title shot. I feel disrespected. I love being a UFC fighter, I love the UFC, but I feel the UFC has to love me back.’ And he doesn’t feel the love right now.“

Prior to recording his second, decision win over Fiziev, the 36-year-old Gaethje (26-5) was knocked out by Max Holloway at UFC 300 in April, 2024. Gaethje has gone 3-2 in his last 5 bouts, with his other wins during that stretch coming via a KO of Dustin Poirier and another decision win over Fiziev in 2023.

Gaethje’s other defeat was via submission to Oliveira in May, 2022.