Ilia Topuria is ready to fight, but is Justin Gaethje?
It’s been three months since Gaethje beat Topuria so badly the Spanish-Georgian’s corner called off their fight following the fourth round. Topuria disappeared into the shadows to lick his wounds. Gaethje went on a victory lap with his new undisputed lightweight title.
But amidst that lap, “The Highlight” refused to confirm whether he’d fight again. There was talk of retirement coming into the White House bout, win or lose. And now Gaethje has
said if he does compete again, it’ll have to be a massive fight.
UFC CEO Dana White was asked about Gaethje’s potential retirement following a Garcia vs. Benn press event.
“There’s two sides to this coin,” White said. “If you look at, talk about going out the right way? But he looked incredible, and when you think about how much money is left on the table for him to make when he still looks good.”
Gaethje’s name has come up a lot over the last week with White, always in terms of being a potential opponent for Topuria.
“The big talk is who [Topuria’s] going to fight,” White said. “Is he going to fight Gaethje, or is he going to fight Paddy Pimblett? That is a great problem to have.”
Gaethje has said in the past he has no interest in rematching Topuria after basically beating the former two-division champion twice in one night at UFC Freedom 250. That’s where some of that money on the table will have to come into play … if UFC wants Justin to stick around, especially for fights he’s not particularly interested in, they’ll have to back up the Brinks truck.
