With the UFC’s White House card looming and Ilia Topuria talking about coming back to unify the belts, Justin Gaethje isn’t pretending this is just another matchup on the calendar. At 37, with the interim lightweight title in his hands after beating Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324, he’s standing at one of those career crossroads that fighters don’t love talking about out loud.

‘The Highlight’ has always been clear that health and timing matter more to him than squeezing out one last paycheck. So when the possibility of fighting the champ came up during a recent interview, he told Stephen A. Smith, “I can absolutely knock Ilia Topuria out on the White House lawn.”

That’s a bold line, especially when you look at the numbers. ‘El Matador’ is 9–0 in the UFC, hasn’t lost as a pro, and flattened Charles Oliveira to win the vacant lightweight belt after finishing Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway at featherweight. But Gaethje is confident, as he said he knows “how crazy this game is,” knows “the power I possess,” and trusts the skill set he’s built over a decade of wars.

Yet, the interim lightweight champion also didn’t pretend that Topuria is harmless. Gaethje admitted that Ilia Topuria can knock him out, too. The point, for him, is that you don’t find out unless you step into the fire. And that’s what he wants: the chance.

Gaethje framed beating Topuria by knockout himself as something almost unreal and even joked that he’d start believing life is a “simulation” because that outcome would be that “crazy.” So what does this mean for retirement? Here’s where Justin Gaethje drew his line.

He laughed off getting boxed into promises about money, then made it clear: “If I knock out Ilia Topuria, I’m sure I would keep fighting.” But he also drew a boundary around damage. The UFC veteran has been blunt about not letting his career end with repeated traumatic brain injuries. In his words, “If I lost by knockout to a bicycle in between, then I would be done. But I am not allowing myself to get these traumatic brain injuries. ”

So, the upside for Justin Gaethje is clear. If he pulls off the upset, it flips the lightweight picture and cements one of the strangest late-career surges in recent memory. However, in an interview with Zach Gelb yesterday, he confirmed when he’d actually retire. “There’s no doubt we’re towards the end but I don’t know,” he said.” I think by mid next year, 2027, I 100 percent will be done.”

As of now, it all comes down to how the fight with Topuria goes. But according to a former lightweight champion, taking on Ilia Topuria might not be that easy for ‘The Highlight’!

Justin Gaethje warned about Illia Topuria’s “dynamite” power

Frankie Edgar isn’t buying into the fairy-tale version of this matchup, even though he’d love to see his guy pull it off. He believes Gaethje can hurt anyone on the planet, but he’s also honest about how big this ask really is.

In a conversation with MMA Junkie, Edgar said, “I think Justin, just based on the type of fighter that he is, he could put anybody away. He has the power and the grit and the ba— to stand there and swing with anybody. So yeah, I do think it’s a possibility. If you weigh the odds, the odds are definitely in Topuria’s favor. He’s got dynamite in his hands. He’s super technical.”

But here’s where Edgar drew the line between them. He didn’t say Gaethje lacks technique. He said the difference is cleanliness. Topuria’s strikes arrive on balance, with fewer wasted steps. That’s why Edgar framed it as a “tall mountain to climb,” even while rooting for his friend to get his hand raised and walk away with a storybook ending.

And when Edgar talks about the undisputed lightweight champion, you can hear the respect as he’s basically saying what a lot of coaches won’t say out loud: Ilia might be the cleanest boxer in the UFC right now. Topuria doesn’t swing wild; he stays balanced, his feet are always where they should be, and he sits down on his punches without loading up. That mix of natural power with timing and speed is exactly how he knocked out Volkanovski, Holloway, and Charles Oliveira back-to-back.

So, where does this leave Justin Gaethje, really? A 37-year-old interim champ knocking out an unbeaten UFC champion would be the kind of ending fighters daydream about, even if it almost never plays out that neatly. And Gaethje’s already been honest about what that would mean for him. If he pulls it off, he isn’t riding off into the sunset, he’s sticking around and seeing how far this late run can really go!