Justin Gaethje addressed a much-needed issue after his title fight loss to Charles Oliveira.
Although Gaethje is the former UFC interim lightweight champion and has fought for the undisputed title twice, he had a problem breathing with his nose. After dealing it with for 13 years, Gaethje finally decided to address it and got nose surgery.
Justin Gaethje will get nose surgery on July 14 then he's gearing up for "one last run toward the title."
Full story: https://t.co/O15LxxCabj pic.twitter.com/H3nxfieKHi
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) July 1, 2022
“It’s great, it was 13 years with no nose,” Justin Gaethje told MMA Fighting. “I’ve had two of my senses pretty much broken and fixed — my eyes and my nose — and I don’t know which one is better. I can’t imagine not being able to see, and being able to see 20-20 is something special, but being able to anticipate your food, sleep, and really just live how we’re supposed to — having two methods of oxygen intake — is something I’m really enjoying right now.”
“Whenever this happened, it was in college, in the middle of a wrestling season, I was cutting weight, and even before that I was in college eating McDonald’s. I don’t miss that, but I get to eat really good food now and it’s great to really enjoy it as much as I should.”
Perfect timing 👃 Let’s find out who’s nose job is better 😂 @Justin_Gaethje pic.twitter.com/hasx9yzCz2
— Rafael “Ataman” Fiziev (@RafaelFiziev) July 15, 2022
When is Justin Gaethje returning?
After having the surgery and recovering, the plan for Justin Gaethje is to return in 2023 against whoever they give him, although he wants to return in the first quarter of 2023. He also wouldn’t be opposed to going to London and fighting on the same card Kamaru Usman has in his trilogy with Leon Edwards.
“I told them next year,” Gaethje said. “I’m starting to work out now, I’m back in a regular routine. One thing we have over other sports is that the body is resilient, but you have to give it time. I got hit really hard, I had a hard camp, and I wanted to take a break. It was nice that I got my nose fixed.”
“They got a fight for the title [at UFC 280], so somebody’s got to fight the loser. Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier are going to fight, somebody’s got to fight the winner. I’ll be ready next year, ideally January, February, or March, whatever they want to do. I’m not sure when Kamaru [Usman] is going to London [for the Leon Edwards rematch], but I wouldn’t mind fighting in London.”
The plan for Justin Gaethje is to be active in 2023 string together a couple of wins and show he deserves another crack at the belt.
“The specific quote is I would take four to five more wars, and since then I believe I’ve only had one, so it looks like I have three or four left in the tank,” Gaethje explained. “It’s probably two or three [more] like the Charles fight. Ultimately, my goal is to be the world champion. I like to follow the correct process so I think I need two wins, possibly three, hopefully it will be two — two knockouts in the first round — that gets you right back into title contention. As soon as I don’t believe, or I don’t have the confidence that I can be the best in the world, then I have no reason to keep going.”
Justin Gaehje did in fact get into an absolute war with Oliveira. There is a reason Gaehtje is nicknamed “highlight”.
Do you think Justin Gaethje can secure the 155 title on his last run? This would be his 3rd attempt at gold with Gaethje coming up short in his first title defense in Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement fight. Let us know in the comments below.
