Since his professional debut in 2011, Justin Gaethje fought at least twice inside a calendar year. But for 2021, “The Highlight” is making an exception.
The 32-year-old former UFC interim champion is set to take on Michael Chandler at UFC 268 on November 6th. It will be 13 months since his UFC 254 title fight loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
As the number two-ranked Gaethje recently explained to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the layoff was mostly because of a lack of opponent options, along with his understandable hesitance to fight someone outside of the top five.
But he also revealed that his team was planning for a “fun fight” against a former champion.