Justin Gaethje is not being pushed into retirement by his own team. Ali Abdelaziz expects the UFC lightweight champion to fight again, but he also made clear that Gaethje has earned the right to wait for the kind of booking that changes the whole division.
Gaethje has fought twice in 2026, first beating Paddy Pimblett in January and then stopping Ilia Topuria to win the undisputed lightweight title at UFC Freedom 250. That is the context behind Abdelaziz’s answer when he was asked whether Gaethje was leaning toward retirement or another fight.
The source post is below.
Justin Gaethje’s manager Ali Abdelaziz says the UFC lightweight champ is NOT retiring.
“2027, we will see Justin Gaethje fight. … It just has to be a massive fight.”
Abdelaziz Says Gaethje Can Wait
I know he’s talked about this retirement decision. Do you think Justin Gaethje fights again? Or is he leaning towards walking away?
2027, we will see Justin Gaethje fighting. He’s fought two times this year.
He’s still the lightweight champion, undisputed. And I think all these guys have to chase him, you know what I’m saying?
He wants to be in a big fight, big, big fight.
What is the big fight? Who decide that? Who decide what’s the biggest fight they can make?
Abdelaziz did not frame the decision as a normal contender queue. His point was that Gaethje is the champion, not a fighter begging for a spot, and that the UFC has to bring him something worth interrupting the break.
And I would like to see Justin Gaethje. If he retired today, I’ll be so happy because he did everything he have done.
And if he wanted to choose to fight one more time, he can fight one more time because nobody tell him what to do. He’s the boss.
Massive Fight Or Nothing
Max Holloway, Charles Oliveira, and Arman Tsarukyan were raised as possible names or routes in the conversation. Abdelaziz did not commit to any of them. His answer stayed on the size of the fight, not a specific opponent.
I think a rematch with him and Max Holloway would be huge. There’s a lot of rumors. Charles and Arman are going to fight in LA in September, maybe the winner of that. I don’t know. There’s some good fights out there.
Yeah, for sure. Man, listen, at the end of the day, it just has to be a massive fight. It have to be a massive fight. You never know, bro.
It’s a lot of option, man. A lot of option. UFC is so busy right now. Let them do what they do.
And we’re going to sit down and we’re going to figure this out. And we always do.
Gaethje’s recent record gives that stance weight. He is 28-5 as a pro and closed UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, 2026, at the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., by forcing a fourth-round stoppage of Topuria at the end of round four. That win came after he shut down the idea of a Paddy Pimblett rematch and after his family had already been pulled into the retirement question during the White House visit with JD Vance.
The Holloway name is not random either. Holloway knocked out Gaethje at UFC 300 in 2024, while Gaethje had already built a lightweight resume that includes the interim UFC title, the BMF belt, a former World Series of Fighting lightweight title run, and wins over names such as Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler, Rafael Fiziev, and Pimblett. The next step now sits somewhere between legacy, leverage, and one more fight big enough for the champion to answer.
That is also why the 2027 timeline matters. Gaethje does not need to rush back just to stay visible. The UFC lightweight belt gives him the leverage, and Abdelaziz is saying the promotion can spend the rest of 2026 sorting out whether Holloway, Oliveira, Tsarukyan, or someone else becomes the fight worth taking.
