Justin Gaethje unwilling to change fighting style in UFC comeback: ‘It’s really not possible’
Yet to return off the back of his latest thunderous knockout loss, UFC megastar, Justin Gaethje has claimed it’s not “possible” for him to change his ‘fire first’ fighting style in his return to the Octagon — amid claims he would likely hang up his gloves if he was finished with strikes in dramatic fashion again.
Gaethje, a former interim lightweight champion and symbolic BMF champion under the banner of the promotion, most recently featured on the main card of UFC 300 last year, dropping a fifth round buzzer-beating knockout loss to fan-favorite veteran, Max Holloway.
And yet to be booked for his return to action, Arizona native, Gaethje has been linked with an early new year comeback by his long-time manager, Ali Abdelaziz in recent weeks, who also suggested pairings against the likes of UFC 311 feature, Renato Moicano as well as Kiwi star, Dan Hooker.
“Justin Gaethje’s going to fight in March,” Ali Abdelaziz told MMA Fighting. “Against who? I have no idea. It can be (Dan) Hooker. It can be Dustin Poirier. It can be (Renato) Moicano. Whatever it is. I don’t know but I would like to see Justin fight in March. He needs a little bit of time to recover after his last fight. He deserves that.”
Justin Gaethje unwilling to change fighting style in the future
However, himself stressing that a similar knockout loss to the Hawaiian star, Holloway in the future would likely call for him to bring a stoppage to his combat sports career, Gaethje has no plans to make a risk-adverse change to his overall, fan-friendly gameplan.
“Even if I wanted to change how I fight, it’s really not possible,” Justin Gaethje told MMA Knockout. “That’s how I compete.”
Winning the symbolic BMF championship two summers ago, Gaethje stopped two-fight rival, Dustin Poirier with a devastating second round high-kick knockout win of his own, and has been heavily linked with a rubber-match trilogy with his fellow perennial contender in the near future.
