LAS VEGAS – Justin Gaethje isn’t done chasing the UFC lightweight championship.
Gaethje (23-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) has fallen short of undisputed gold on two occasions against Khabib Nurmagomedov, and more recently, Charles Oliveira at UFC 274 in April. He’s remained silent in the fallout of his second title loss, but now he’s ready to speak about his future.
The former interim UFC titleholder said he’s going to be out of action for several more months as he prepared for an upcoming nose surgery, which is a nuisance he’s been dealing with for well over a decade, he said. Once he’s healthy and ready to start a training camp, Gaethje said he intends to make a final push toward the top.
I’m going to get nose surgery July 14,” Gaethje told MMA Junkie and other reporters Thursday on the UFC Hall of Fame red carpet. “Take a good month to recover, and get back to work. I think end of the year, most likely early next year (I’ll be back). There’s a few fights that are going to happen, so I’ll let those happen. I want to clear a two or three-fight path back to the title fight. I want to earn it, like I should, but I have a great manager so I’m not worried about it too much. I’ll be ready to fight.
“I’ve been waiting for 13 years for someone in MMA to break my nose and it hasn’t happened. I broke it in wrestling practice 13 years ago, and life’s been hell since then. I have to wear a nose drip tonight, every night to bed every single night. Eating, sleeping, living, training, fighting. I’m not sure. I don’t even know what my f*cking voice sounds like. I’ve been waiting a long time to get this broken. No one has done it, so I’m going to do it myself and give it one last run toward the title.”
Gaethje was on the verge of capturing the title from Oliveira during a wild fight at UFC 274. He knocked the Brazilian down in the early going, but said he got too wild and made some costly errors en route to being submitted.
Fighting in front of a home-state crowd in Phoenix, Gaethje said the moment overcame him, and it resulted in his downfall.
“It’s a crazy game we play,” Gaethje said. “It’s the reason I love it. It’s a game of inches. At the end of the day, being at home in front of my crowd – sometimes you lose control of your emotions. I’m not exactly sure what happened. I had the time of my life. It’s a crazy game.”
