Justin Gaethje has a very important decision to make in the near future. He has two fights left on his current WSOF contract, one of which was supposed to occur just over a week ago but was instead scrapped on fight day.

As one of the hottest up-and-comers in the sport, the soon-to-be free agent will have to decide sooner rather than later whether he wants to re-sign with WSOF, where he’s the current lightweight champion, or test the free agency market and possibly sign with the UFC.

At this point, Gaethje isn’t too sure what he wants to do. He’s a competitor at heart and therefore wants to fight the best, but, as arguably WSOF’s biggest star, he’s getting paid well as it is.

“I’m not exactly sure how [free agency] goes,” Gaethje told Bloody Elbow’s MMA Circus. “I’m not really worried about it. I just gotta fight one fight at a time. I know that if I’m 18-0 with 15 knockouts, there’s going to be some bidding going on, and, ultimately, that’s going to be the goal. But I love World Series of Fighting; I would not mind one bit staying with them for the entirety of my career. We’ll see what happens.”

One of Gaethje’s biggest issues with his current career is his lack of activity. He has only had one fight this year thus far (he has been booked for two, however) and stepped inside the cage twice in 2015.

Gaethje’s last reported fight purse was for his WSOF 23 rematch with Luis Palomino last year. He took home $100,000, not including discretionary bonuses or sponsorship earnings. But, as one of the highest-paid fighters in the organization, Gaethje doesn’t believe that WSOF can afford his fighting services more than twice a year.

“As a fighter, you always imply that you want to stay busy,” he said. “But business is business. I don’t think they can afford to give me any more fights in a year, to be honest with you, if I keep winning. I’m a competitor; I love to compete, I hate taking breaks, I love getting paychecks. I could fight five times a year and I probably would not be happy or satisfied.”

All of that said, Gaethje realizes that only fighting once or twice per year is probably the best situation for him, as it will likely lengthen his career.

“It’s a lot better for me and my career,” he said. “I’ll probably fight longer because I’m not fighting four times year right now. So, in hindsight, it is better for me. I get to take my breaks, I get to focus. Fighting five times a year, it’d be really hard to focus on every single fight. I’m doing what I need to do, I am satisfied, but, like I said, as a competitor, I have to always want to fight. I gotta be in the mindset to be ready to push myself at all times.”

However, while Justin Gaethje may have his own ideas on WSOF’s financial situation, according to president Ray Sefo, there are no problems money-wise having Gaethje fight more often than he already is. Instead, it comes down to the amount of events the organization currently hosts per year and having to evenly book its entire roster of fighters.

“No, that is incorrect,” Sefo told BloodyElbow.com’s The MMA Circus. “A lot of these fighters forget that we don’t have 50 shows a year. We have 10 live shows and two [WSOF Global] shows. A lot of these guys forget that. I have 100 guys on my roster and I gotta make sure everybody fights. And that’s no secret. Every fighter that I’ve signed, they know that right off the bat. I have 10 live shows, I don’t have 50 live shows.

“There are some discussions going back and forth, waiting to hear back from NBC, but we may look at 18 shows next year. Then Justin can fight three or four times a year.”