Former interim lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje has confirmed he is currently preparing to make his return to action as soon as UFC 313 on March 8. next — claiming he is currently targeted to share the Octagon with surging New Zealand striker, Dan Hooker.
Gaethje, a former interim titleholder and symbolic BMF gold holder, has been sidelined since UFC 300 back in April of last year.
Most recently featuring on the monumental main card against former featherweight kingpin, Max Holloway, Arizona native, Gaethje would drop a highlight-reel buzzer-beating knockout loss to the Hawaiian, succumbing to strikes for just third knockout loss of his career.
Justin Gaethje confirms plans for UFC 313 barnburner fight with Dan Hooker
And linked with multiple opponents to make his return to action in the months since, former interim titleholder, Gaethje has now confirmed he is gearing up training for a return to the Octagon as soon as UFC 313 in Las Vegas, with a speculated fight with streaking City Kickboxing star, Hooker currently targeted.
“So there’s no official fight signed, but I told the UFC maybe two, three months ago that March was, you know, the date I was looking for,” Justin Gaethje said on his official YouTube channel. “I know there’s a fight March 8th 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.”
“… When you take a loss like that and you’re as competitive as we are, then it lights a fire under your ass,” Justin Gaethje explained. “So we’re back to it, back to, you know, back in the swing of things and back getting ready for a specific day, a specific opponent. I think it’s going to be Dan Hooker, but, you know, with the UFC, things can always change.
Himself in the midst of a three-fight winning run, Kiwi contender, Hooker returned to the lightweight division with a dominant body kick TKO win over Claudio Puelles, before racking up a pair of back-to-back decision wins over Jalin Turner, and then Mateusz Gamrot — most recently besting the Pole at UFC 304 last summer.
