Justin Gaethje isn't sure he'll ever return to the octagon.
The UFC lightweight champion is contemplating whether to defend his title or call it a career.
Gaethje won the interim championship by defeating Paddy Pimblett in January, and then beat Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 to become the undisputed champion.
Even with the victories, Gaethje took a lot of damage to himself to earn the crown as the top lightweight.
"Right now, I have a deep bruise in my knee," Gatheje said on the Flagrant Podcast. "Still can't punch with my hand. We're three months removed from my last fight. I gave a lot of myself for this fight in January. In June, luckily I came out on top, but it cost me a lot, so I need to recover. I need to rest my brain because a lot of training went into those fights.
"I'm just going to enjoy being the champion for the rest of the year. I'm going to make a business decision and a life decision whenever the time comes."
If Gaethje does decide to defend, it appears to be very clear who it will be against. Arman Tsarukyan is currently on a six-fight win streak and knocked out Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331 on Saturday.
Tsarukyan is 11-2-0 since joining the UFC, but has yet to earn himself a title opportunity.
"It's not that I don't want to fight Arman; it really isn't," Gaethje said. "He's the next in line; if and when I defend this championship, that will be who I fight.
"... Everyone's like, 'You (expletive) fight Arman. I don't know what the (expletive), I have injuries I have to take care of. I haven't made a decision — but I am 37 years old. My first fight was in 2008. I've had 40 fights, including my amateur fights, so I don't know."
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