Justin Gaethje talks KO loss to Max Holloway, will retire ‘if it happens again'

Justin Gaethje knows the implications of another KO loss.

Gaethje has been in war after war since arriving to the UFC in 2017, most recently at UFC 300 where "The Highlight" ended up on Max Holloway's highlight reel, losing in a brutal buzzer-beater knockout last April.

Justin Gaethje was knocked out on in the final minute of his fight with Max Holloway at UFC 300. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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One lengthy road to recovery later, Gaethje is back at UFC 313 almost a year later as he rematches fellow striker Rafael Fiziev next weekend in Las Vegas. Though, it's not Fiziev who Gaethje is mostly concerned about.

Max Holloway fights Justin Gaethje during UFC 300 at T-Mobile Arena. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

"Coming off of a loss like that, it's been me against me this whole time," Gaethje told Kevin Iole. "This fight is me against me. I gotta go in there and believe in my skills, believe in my ability to win at the highest level. That's been the challenge this whole time, and I'm excited to get in there and do that on the biggest stage in the world."

Gaethje On Potential Retirement

Gaethje, 36, heard a decent amount of retirement talk following his last KO loss to Max Holloway, some fans wanting him to hang up the gloves on the legendary MMA moment he was on the wrong side of.

"No, no, no. I ain't going out like that," Gaethje said of retiring after the Holloway loss. "If it happens again, I'm sure it'll be it."

"I think the human body is very resilient and I think it needs time. I took six months without getting hit. I think we play the most violent sport in the world, but I don't think it's the most dangerous for that specific fact that we can take time in between these traumatic brain injuries. You see football players, stacking two on top of each other. You see boxers getting three in one night, and that's detrimental as far as we know. S***, one [injury] could be detrimental, but I feel pretty good right now."

Justin Gaethje took a considerable amount of time off following his last fight. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

His last 3 losses to Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, and the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov, Gaethje says: "I'm definitely looking to fight the best fights in the world and the best guys in the world. I mean, if that's not the goal, then I have to be done here."

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Justin Gaethje has won three out of his last four fights, quite possibly a win away from a lightweight title fight against Champion Islam Makhachev - or a KO away from retirement, in his words.

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