“At the time, I had my first child. I was champion of a regional promotion. This was around the time Conor McGregor was a two-time champion. And so, I thought, maybe I could do the same thing on the regional scene to help bring back (UFC matchmaker) Sean Shelby and get his attention. So I moved up a weight class to try to do that, and I lost the fight.
“It wasn’t something that was planned, but as soon as the fight was over, I got on the mic and I was like, ‘I’m done fighting, I’m stepping down.’ And I was serious in my mind.
“I took a year off, started teaching full time and coaching high school wrestling, and just started finding myself in the gym. At first I was only doing jiu-jitsu a few days a week, then suddenly I was back into boxing and before I knew it I was training almost every day .
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“I thought, ‘Well, if I’m going to train every day, I might as well get back to it.’ So (I’d had) about a year off and then I came back. I didn’t want to be this cautionary tale of another guy who retired and came back, but here I am!
Gibson returned to the cage, competing for promotions such as Tachi Palace Fights, LFA and XMMA, and eventually got the call to compete on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter, which featured a team of veteran fighters of the UFC taking on a team of promotional newcomers. As a member of the veteran team led by UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler, Gibson earned back-to-back first-round finishes to earn a spot in the finals against former TUF winner Brad Katona, who had changed teams before the UFC final. 292 in Boston.