Justin Gaethje not 'hanging them up quite yet' as Drew Dober bets on Arman Tsarukyan fight

Gaethje's teammate says the lightweight champion is back in the gym and 'definitely thinking about, you know, fighting again'.

Justin Gaethje is back in training, says his teammate Drew Dober, who has put his money on the lightweight champion facing Arman Tsarukyan next year.

Asked by MMA Junkie whether Gaethje would defend the title or was still torn on retiring, Dober said: "I think he is torn." He said Gaethje had accomplished everything a fighter could, with Tsarukyan "next again".

"But Justin Gaethje's back in the gym. He's training. So I know he's definitely thinking about, you know, fighting again," Dober said. "I'd put my money on we're gonna have Justin Gaethje versus Arman Tsarukyan ... sometime next year."

When the interviewer said Gaethje had spoken of expecting a call from the UFC around Christmas, Dober added: "Came back in the gym. He's training again. So he's not, you know, hanging them up quite yet."

Gaethje finished Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June to win the undisputed lightweight title, and suggested straight afterwards that it could be his last fight. Dana White has said a fight with Alexander Volkanovski is Gaethje's call: "He's going to have to pull the trigger one way or another."

Tsarukyan has said Gaethje is trying to avoid him. "Someone is trying to duck me," he said, adding that the UFC had told him he would get an answer at the end of November.

Dober has his own fight first. He faces Scotland's Chris Duncan on the prelims of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night.

READ NEXTArman Tsarukyan on Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria: 'I can fight both of them. Same night'Read the next story →

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