Justin Gaethje provides new retirement update with Ilia Topuria rematch rumors continuing to circulate

Justin Gaethje has admitted that he still isn’t certain whether he will continue with his UFC career.

This past June, Justin Gaethje pulled off one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history when he became the first fighter to beat Ilia Topuria, taking his lightweight title on the White House lawn.

Prior to the fight, the assumption was that ‘The Highlight’ would retire after the fight considering he has been speaking about retirement for several years now.

However, rumors have been circulating recently that the UFC have held conversations internally regarding a potential rematch between Gaethje and ‘El Matador’.

On his third attempt, Justin Gaethje finally became the undisputed lightweight champion, pulling off one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history👏🏼

Almost immediately after his win over the Spaniard, Gaethje shut down talks of a potential immediate rematch with Topuria, stating that he would need to bounce back with a win to earn a title fight.

Despite that, it seems as though the decision may have been taken out of the 37-year-old’s hands, with there not being many other options.

Arman Tsarukyan has long been the number one contender in the division but he is scheduled to fight in a few weeks time at UFC 331 in another title eliminator fight.

And although Gaethje wasn’t initially keen on a rematch, the American recently provided another retirement update, admitting that he still isn’t sure whether he will fight again.

“I’ve fought twice this year, I have deep bone bruise in my knee, I can’t punch with my hand still so I really need to recover and I know for a fact I won’t fight again this year,” he said on the MightyCast YouTube channel.

“I do know I’ve just performed better than I’ve ever performed and statistically that shouldn’t have happened… I have a family, I’ve always trusted and told my parents, my brothers, my sister, my coaches, that I need them to have a conversation with me whenever the time needs to come.

“I really rely on them and lean on them to help me through this choice, I think it’s a big choice. But I do think I’m a business and I need to approach this like a business… I need to have different conversations and see what life looks like. I haven’t made a decision, I don’t know (whether I will return),” he continued.

It seems likely at this point that if Gaethje does stick around, he will rematch Topuria in what could potentially be the final fight of what has been a legendary and completely unique career.