Justin Gaethje explains why he will be avoiding short-notice fights

Justin Gaethje is one of the most consistently exciting fighters in the sport of MMA. Time and time again, the former World Series of Fighting lightweight champion and current UFC lightweight contender has flaunted his willingness to engage pretty much anybody in a tooth-and-nail brawl, gambling with his very consciousness for our entertainment.

Given Gaethje’s propensity for excitement, you might expect him to be the kind of fighter to happily accept short notice fights. Apparently, however, Gaethje is keen to steer clear of short notice fights – even though he admits the temptation to accept them will always be there.

“The effort I put in, I expect myself to have eight to 12 weeks of preparation, and that’s the way I do things,” Gaethje recently told MMAJunkie.com. “So I hope to never make the mistake – I just want to put it on the record for myself, to look back on – that I hope I never make the mistake of taking a last-second fight. Because inside, I would want to. But it shouldn’t happen.”

Justin Gaethje will next step into the Octagon at UFC 218 in Detroit, as first reported by BJPenn.com’s own Chris Taylor. His opponent will be former Bellator and UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.

“I’m going to go in there and finish Eddie absolutely as fast as possible,” Gaethje told MMAJunkie.com of this fight with Alvarez. “I deserve a shot at the championship if I keep beating these guys. So I hope I earn that.”

The most important thing for Gaethje, however, is entertaining the fans.

“I don’t want to win. I want to put on a show. I want to be the most violent lightweight in the world. And if I have to go through one of these guys after I beat Eddie, I will. But I’m going to be running for sheriff around here.”

Are you surprised to learn that Justin Gaethje isn’t interested in short-notice fights?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/16/2017.