Justin Gaethje refutes rumor that he’s considering retirement

Justin Gaethje has refuted any rumors that he’s considering walking away from the UFC and mixed martial arts.

After Gaethje suffered a submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title at UFC 254 he said he wanted a quick turnaround. However, that has yet to be the case as “The Highlight” is still sitting on the sidelines and a recent Instagram DM from a training partner of Gaethje hinted that the former interim champ was thinking about retirement.

https://twitter.com/miraclemma__/status/1404568551198007298

Ryan Charlebois is a 3-0 pro fighter who’s coming off back-to-back wins in LFA and is a regular training partner of Gaethje. In the alleged DM’s, Charlebois said that he has no idea when Gaethje will fight next but he doubts it’s going to be soon.

He then added “He’s frustrated. UFC is denying him the fights he wants and he’s been discussing retirement. The Khabib loss took a lot out of him. The first few months especially were rough for him at the gym, it’s clear the loss changed him,” Charlebois said about Gaethje.

After the tweet began to get noticed on social media, Justin Gaethje responded to it saying it was totally false.

https://twitter.com/justin_gaethje/status/1404617330915610626?s=21

“This is straight BS. I’m far from done from chasing that high. I’m also guessing this dude fabricated this entire thing,” Gaethje wrote.

There is no question the past couple of months have been a frustrating time for Gaethje as he has been vocal about wanting to fight. However, with Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor locked up and Michael Chandler fighting Charles Oliveira for the belt, there weren’t any logical fights for him. But, perhaps he does return in the late summer or fall against someone like Chandler, Dan Hooker, Rafael dos Anjos or really any top-10 lightweight contender.

Who would you like to see Justin Gaethje fight next time out after he refuted reports he was retiring?