Justin Gaethje reveals he almost had to pull out of Donald Cerrone fight

Justin Gaethje arrived to the UFC Vancouver open workout Wednesday night and everything seemed normal heading into his main event fight with Donald Cerrone this weekend.

It turns out, the MMA community had to let out a collective sigh of relief as “The Highlight” revealed during his post workout scrum — while wearing sunglasses — that he recently suffered an eye infection that almost caused him to withdraw from Saturday night’s headliner.

Check out the video via TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter on Twitter.

Justin Gaethje admits that he almost had to pull out of this weekend's bout with Donald Cerrone pic.twitter.com/1eLREBgl1Y

— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) September 12, 2019

“I’ll be honest to everyone, I’m wearing these sunglasses because I almost didn’t make it to this fight,” Gaethje told reporters after his UFC Vancouver open workout. “I had an eye infection and I’m through that now.

“I’m 100-percent ready to go. I’ve fought blind my whole life so unless my eyes are cut out, I’m fighting.”

Justin Gaethje suffered the first two losses of his career in back-to-back fights — losing via TKO to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier — before bouncing back with two finishes of his own over James Vick and Edson Barboza. The 30-year old Gaethje was asked when the infection revealed itself and if he was, in fact, cleared by doctors to compete on Saturday night.

“I’ve seen many doctors and I’m cleared,” Gaethje stated. “It doesn’t matter (when it happened). I’m here and I’m ready to fight, baby!”

Standing across from Gaethje will be “Cowboy” Cerrone, who will look to get back to his winning ways. After picking up finishes over Mike Perry and Alex Hernandez, along with a unanimous decision win over Al Iaquinta, Cerrone took on Tony Ferguson at UFC 238 in June in a fight that lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, Cerrone suffered an eye injury in the fight which lead to a doctor’s stoppage TKO win for Ferguson.

Who do you see taking home the victory in the UFC Vancouver main event between Justin Gaethje and Donald Cerrone? For information on how to watch the event, click here.