Justin Gaethje Reveals Retirement Threat Was Influenced by Manager

Justin Gaethje’s recent retirement threat was not all his idea. 

Gaethje (26-5) is scheduled to fight Paddy Pimblett for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324 on Jan. 24 in Las Vegas. The interim title fight was hatched after champion Ilia Topuria announced a short break from competition for personal reasons. Gaethje and Pimblett (23-3) were previously frontrunners for a title shot against Topuria. However, Topuria has clearly expressed his preference for defending his title against Pimblett over Gaethje. Gaethje was threatening retirement if denied a title shot in his next fight. 

Thankfully for Gaethje, circumstances played out in his favor. However, Gaethje recently revealed that the retirement threat was partly his manager, Ali Abdelaziz’s idea. Gaethje also admitted that he was being emotional about the whole situation.

Taking Things Personally

“I definitely got what I asked for,” Gaethje told the UFC. “It was more that my manager put me in that. I probably said it — we’re emotional beings and we’re petty. We don’t get to where I’m at, or where these fighters are at, without being petty. I take things personally, and I thought I earned something. And so I was trying to stand up.”

Gaethje threatened retirement because he felt that the UFC owed him a title shot since he had the promotion’s back on multiple occasions. Abdelaziz also doubled down, claiming Gaethje was likely to follow through with his threat. However, Dana White was unfazed and briefly suggested that Gaethje should probably retire if he was considering it. 

This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com

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