Justin Gaethje explains morbid UFC 300 mindset as he rules out fighting lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in June

Justin Gaethje revealed that he approaches his fights in a particularly morbid way.

“The Highlight” is set to defend his BMF belt against former featherweight champion Max Holloway at UFC 300 in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Gaethje is already the number one contender at lightweight and a win over Holloway would almost certainly lead to a title fight with Islam Makhachev.

However, the Khabib Nurmagomedov protégé is expected to return to the Octagon in June and Gaethje doesn’t think he will be fit to fight again so soon after UFC 300.

In fact, the American has no plans for after his fight with Holloway, as he enters every fight with the mindset that he might die in the Octagon.

“I don’t play guesswork,” Gaethje said at the UFC 300 media day. “But you don’t pass up a championship opportunity.

“I want to have time. I think June would probably be impossible for me, because every time I fight, it’s a traumatic life experience.

“I need to go home, relax, take care of my body, take care of my head, but I have coaches and a manager who ultimately make those decisions.

“If they say go, I go. I go a quarter mile at a time. I don’t look too far.

“Honestly, I have no idea what the future holds. I usually don’t plan on being alive the day after my fights. So I hope to be there on Sunday.”

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Gaethje came up short in two previous UFC title fights against Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira, but he is coming off his career-best knockout victory against Dustin Poirier.

Despite this, Poirier could move to the front of the queue as he is currently available and back in the win column after his impressive performance against Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299 last month.

No announcement has been made yet regarding Makhahcev’s next fight, and Gaethje is still in contention to get another title shot, if he can be ready this summer.

First, he has the not-so-easy task of overtaking Holloway at UFC 300.