K. Nurmagomedov (left) and J. Gaethje (right) have one of the most anticipated clashes in recent years. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram
Several athletes adopt mystery when dealing with their game plans for their clashes, but they do not Khabib Nurmagomedov. Linear lightweight champion (up to 70,3kg.), the Russian, who tries to unify his title against Justin gaethje, this Saturday (24), at UFC 254, in Abu Dhabi, does not hide the strategy that will be used in one of the toughest commitments of his career. The idea: take it to the ground.
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“I prepared to knock him down 100 times. It will be very interesting Saturday night,” said Nurmagomedov, at the promotional press conference for the weekend’s event.
Without disrespecting Gaethje, who has one of the best grappling bases in the category – despite not using his specialty –, the 'eagle' then compared North American wrestling with Russian wrestling. To make the analogy, Khabib remembered his friend and training partner, Daniel Cormier.
“There’s a big difference. I know he can wrestle, but what about doing it for 25 minutes? It will be like I said to Daniel Cormier today: 'when you faced Stipe Miocic last time, you grabbed his leg once, knocked him down and got up really quickly and that was it. You stopped. In the other minutes, everyone stood up”, explained the Russian.
Nurmagomedov then continued using DC to expose his fight proposal against Gaethje. For him, the North American must show all his knowledge to try to come away with victory.
“Between me and DC there is a big difference. I'm not going to try to take down Gaethje once, and his defense is good. I'm going to do this all night. That’s the big difference between North American and Dagestan wrestling,” he concluded.
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