Former interim UFC lightweight titleholder, Justin Gaethje has revealed he suffered a vicious bike accident in the days ahead of his May undisputed lightweight title fight against Charles Oliveira, resulting in vision issues after he banged his head on the sidewalk and suffered from road rash.
Gaethje, the current #3 ranked lightweight contender, has been sidelined since the May loss to Oliveira, and recently underwent a surgical procedure to address a longstanding nose fracture.
Headlining the Arizona event in a home soil return, Gaethje dropped Oliveira twice in the opening round via strikes, however, was submitted with a rear-naked choke after Oliveira replied and scored a knockdown of his own on him.
Justin Gaethje reveals he was involved in a bike accident ahead of his UFC 274 headliner
Entering the main event clash as the only eligible party to clinch the undisputed lightweight crown after former champion, Oliveira missed weight by half a pound for the clash, Justin Gaethje revealed he also experienced some real adversity ahead of the headliner, in the form of a bike accident.
“My dumbass, 18 days before I fought Charles (Oliveira), I was riding my bicycle to the gas station to get some nicotine pounces and I had like a vicious crash on my bike,” Justin Gaethje told assembled media ahead of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden. “Smoked my head off the road, road rash all down my back, and then go in there and take that damage I took in that fight. That’s why I’m taking so much time off.”
Linked with a start-of-year Octagon comeback, Gaethje has been tied to a potential fight against surging lightweight contender, Rafael Fiziev – with the latter also recently undergoing a surgical procedure to address a nose break of his own.
In his most recent victory back in November of last year, ONX Labs mainstay, Gaethje landed a unanimous decision win over Michael Chandler at the aforenoted, Madison Square Garden.