Former MMA fighter Josh Thomson believes that pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev should apply a different method when he enters the cage with Justin Gaethje. According to the commentator/analyst, the best example to explain this is Gaethje’s fight versus Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Gaethje is one of the names awaiting the title shot against the lightweight champion. The fighter made his claim for the fight strong after defeating Dustin Poirier and Rafael Fiziev in his last two bouts. Makhachev further made the chance bigger for the No. 20-ranked fighter after expressing preference for him over Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan.
In case the fight is pushed, Thomson knows that Makhachev has sufficient power to defeat the fighter, but said that the champ would require a change in his plan to secure the win.
“I’m not saying he doesn’t John, I’m saying that we’ve seen Justin can take it, he can deliver it,” said Thomson on the Weighing In podcast. “His only weakness in this fight is that if his back hits the ground, it could be over quick and I’m saying it will potentially hit there but I say that if you’re going to look at who is the most dangerous fight for him, and we saw it with Khabib in the first round.”
As the former MMA fighter explained, Gaethje made it clear during his fight versus Nurmagomedov in 2020. Although the Russian won the bout, Thomson stressed that the American delivered a great deal of shots to the opponent, something that Makhachev he believes won’t be able to take.
“Khabib took some big shots from Justin in that first round, and Khabib just walked him down,” added the analyst. “Islam’s not gonna fight him that way. He can’t afford to fight him that way, he can’t afford to take the shot Khabib took. He can’t, and he’s got to close that distance.”
