Arman Tsarukyan Reacts to Justin Gaethje’s Retirement Threat

Congratulations on amazing career. Enjoy your retirement https://t.co/phMYuqbZ95

— Arman Tsarukyan UFC (@ArmanUfc) June 11, 2025

Arman Tsarukyan doesn’t think Justin Gaethje will fight for a title next.

Gaethje’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, recently said that his fighter is considering retirement if he doesn’t fight for the title next. Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira are set to fight for the vacant lightweight strap in the UFC 317 headliner on June 28 in Las Vegas. Abdelaziz believes Gaethje should fight the winner. While Gaethje allegedly isn’t “feeling loved” by the UFC right now, his manager trusts the promotion to do right by “The Highlight.”

However, Tsarukyan (22-3) believes Gaethje (26-5) will have to retire if he remains adamant on fighting for a title next.

“Congratulations on amazing career,” Tsarukyan wrote. “Enjoy your retirement.”

While Gaethje won the interim lightweight crown against Tony Ferguson, he lost the title unifier against then-champ Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. Gaethje also came up short in his second bid against Charles Oliveira in 2022. Gaethje rebounded with wins over Rafael Fiziev and Dustin Poirier before losing a BMF title fight against Max Holloway. He has since returned to the win column with another win over Fiziev.

Meanwhile, Tsarukyan’s run halted at an unfortunate juncture. “Ahalkalalets” was scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev for the title at UFC 308 last year but pulled out a day before the fight due to a back injury. Dana White was not pleased and publicly announced that Tsarukyan won’t get the next title shot at 155. Tsarukyan hasn’t fought since a split decision win over Oliveira in April 2024.