Heading into UFC 317, Justin Gaethje‘s manager, Dominance MMA head Ali Abdelaziz, revealed that if The Highlight doesn’t get a title shot, then he may retire.
While Gaethje downplayed the situation shortly after at Fanatics Fest, indicating that his answer to questions regarding his future in the Octagon varies by the day, Abdelaziz has since doubled down during an appearance on Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo‘s Pound 4 Pound show.
As he explained to the two former champions, Gaethje did the UFC a favor by stepping up and fighting down in the rankings against Rafael Fiziev twice, and fighting Max Holloway in the people’s main event at UFC 300.
Given that, he feels as though the UFC owes Gaethje a crack at the title.
“Nobody can say s*** to Justin Gaethje, and I normally don’t go talk about stuff like this publicly. I think they want him to fight Paddy Pimblett, and nothing against Paddy, I know what the UFC’s doing, they want Paddy to win to fight Ilia, and there will be a huge fight.”
When asked point-blank by Cejudo whether he thinks Gaethje will ride off into the sunset if he doesn’t get a title fight, Abdelaziz replied:
“I think he’s the type of guy who will. He will walk away. Justin Gaethje will walk away.”
Dana White and UFC May Be Unwilling to Give Gaethje Title Fight
Based on Ali Abdelaziz’s comments, we could very well be in for a standoff between Gaethje’s camp and the UFC.
As Abdelaziz indicated, after years of managing fighters, he knows the UFC does right by those who step up when they need it most. With that in mind, he’s optimistic that the UFC will do right by The Highlight and give him a crack at the title; however, based on previous comments made by Dana White, that may not be the case.
Following an action-packed UFC 317 card in Las Vegas, White spoke with members of the press. When asked about the ultimatum coming out of Gaethje’s camp, the UFC CEO brushed off the situation, echoing previous comments he’s made over the years where he’s urged fighters mentioning retirement to walk away from the fight game.
“Listen, if you’re thinking about retiring, you know how I feel about that — you should probably retire. We love Justin Gaethje and Gaethje did step up [for UFC 300] and he’s been an exciting and fun fighter to have here in the UFC, but to say unless you give me a title shot otherwise I’m retiring, that’s pretty wacky.”
You can see his comments in the video below beginning at the 20:55 mark.
Looking Back At Justin Gaethje’s Previous Comments About Potential Retirement
While there’s been plenty of talk about Gaethje’s future, The Highlight himself has remained elusive regarding the topic.
As previously mentioned, when asked point blank about retirement by MMAFighting’s José Youngs at Fanatics Fest 2025, Gaethje indicated that he wanted to wait and see how things played out between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira.
He then went on to say:
“Catch me on a certain day. I’ll tell you a certain thing. It’s a very emotional sport, but, I try not to speak too out of pocket when I’m emotional, which is right now.
“So, I’m gonna fight again in the future. Has to be the champion.”
Since then, we’ve heard very little from the former BMF champ beyond the latest update from Abdelaziz.
Based on Dana White’s previous comments, however, we could be headed for a standoff between the two sides.
Ali Abdelaziz Doubles Down, Indicates Justin Gaethje May Retire