Ahead of his UFC Lincoln main event clash with James Vick, former World Series of Fighting champion Justin Gaethje has joked that, if he’s outclassed by Vick, he’ll retire.

These comments from Gaethje, of course, were not serious. He’s not retiring yet.

Speaking with MMANytt ahead of his fight with Vick, Gaethje explained what it will take to actually convince him to retire.

Apparently, once his goal of being a world champion dissipates, that’s when he’ll hang up the gloves.

“When that’s not my goal, I will retire,” Gaethje said. “I want to be the best. I want to be the best in the world.”

Justin Gaethje will enter his UFC Lincoln scrap with James Vick having lost his last two fights — knockouts at the hands of Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier. That said, he now feels like he’s well adjusted to the bright lights of the Octagon, and is ready to perform to his potential.

“The UFC, they are the hype machine. Fighting on a UFC card, there is nothing like it,” Gaethje said. “Experience is a hell of a trait to have and now, with some experience under my belt, it will do a lot of things for me.”

“I’m going to be more comfortable in a sense and I’m going to be more vigilant in not getting comfortable in the fight. That comes with experience so yeah, I’m excited to out there and do it again.”

Finally, Justin Gaethje also addressed James Vick’s recent claims about him — that he’s not actually worth of the main event spot.

“If you watch the fights, you have to understand how close either one of us were to getting the ‘W’ and finishing that fight,” Gaethje said of his losses to Alvarez and Poirier. “For James Vick to sit here and say I’m a ‘B’ league fighter and I don’t deserve the accolades that I’m getting — the bonuses, the main events — they guy just doesn’t get it.

“I’m painting a pretty clear picture of what pure effort can achieve in this sport and if you don’t want to pay attention, that’s not my problem.”

Do you think Justin Gaethje will come out on top in the UFC Lincoln main event?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/22/2018.