Justin
Gaethje (25-5) is preparing to return to action against
Dan
Hooker (24-12).
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Gaethje is currently at a crossroads in his career. Gaethje has
dropped two lightweight title bids, against Khabib
Nurmagomedov in 2020 and Charles
Oliveira in 2022. “The Highlight” then bounced back with a
decision win over Rafael
Fiziev followed by a highlight-reel head kick KO against
Dustin
Poirier.
With a lightweight title shot still not in sight, Gaethje then took
on Max
Holloway in a BMF title fight at UFC 300 in April 2024. In a
shocking upset, Holloway beat down Gaethje for five rounds,
challenged him to a slugfest in the final seconds and knocked him
out in a buzzer beater.
Gaethje is now back in training and already has a date and opponent
in mind for his return. While he is yet to put pen to paper, the
36-year-old is in talks for a clash against Hooker at UFC 313
on March 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“So there’s no official fight signed but I told the UFC maybe two
or three months ago that March was the date I was looking for,”
Gaethje said on his YouTube channel. “I know there’s a fight March
8 in Las Vegas, so that’s the one I told them I wanted to be on. I
think they’re figuring out fights right now, but I’m certainly
mentally preparing, physically preparing to fight on that date. So
that’s eight and a half weeks out, which means it’s really gonna be
here in the blink of an eye. When it comes down to things, time
flies.
“Coming off a knockout, I’m really excited to get back in training.
When you take a loss like that, as competitive as we are, [it]
light’s a fire on your asa. So we’re back to it… I think it’s going
to be Dan
Hooker but with the UFC, things can always change. But that’s
what I’m preparing for, mentally, physically for that fight March
8. So back to work. Feeling good, ready to go.”
After dropping four out of five UFC bouts between 2020 and 2022,
Hooker has bounced back with three straight wins against Claudio
Puelles, Jalin
Turner and Mateusz
Gamrot.