Khabib Nurmagamedov v Justin Gaethje is just around the corner and the hype is building. Can Gaethje become the first man to defeat the undefeated? Or will Khabib extend his record to an unprecedented 29-0 in elite MMA? In sum, this is the most intriguing match-up of the year so far.
Gaethje believes that he can beat Khabib but knows that he will need to inflict damage. In short, he wants to separate the Russian from his consciousness. He believes in his KO power because of his recent record. But it won’t be easy because Khabib is an expert at avoiding damage.
Furthermore, Dana White says that the media underestimates Khabib’s star power. He wants the lightweight champion to win because of his mass appeal in the middle east and Russia. Check out Gaethje and White’s comments below.
Knockout Power
In short, Gaethje says that he will knock Nurmagamedov out. He believes that this is how he will win because neither man is going to give up. Everybody knows what Khabib will attempt to do, but nobody before Gaethje has been able to stop him.
“You don’t see it. The best thing is you have your hands on him so you can feel it,” Gaethje told Jimmy Smith. “You can feel him quit. I don’t believe that will happen here — the way I’m going to beat him is by putting him to sleep. Taking his body and taking consciousness away from his body. That’s how I win this fight. Neither one of us are going to quit, neither one of us are going to give up.”
“We’ve both been training our whole lives,” he added. “We both will give our lives for this opportunity. As shallow as that may sound, we live for something and it’s for this and we’ve been preparing our whole life for this. It’s who we are, it’s what we do and it’s going to be a great fight. I ain’t going out like no punk, I can promise you that. I’m going to represent the United States of America, I’m going to represent my family and I’m going to represent myself to the fullest when I step into that Octagon.”
Mega Star
Furthermore, UFC President Dana White says that Khabib is one of the biggest stars in the world of sports. He outlined a number of statistics that reveal how big a presence he is. These figures are startling and also reveal how the western world isn’t the only place that cares about sports.
“The reality is this: apparently people in the business don’t know this,” White told MMA Mania. “Khabib is one of the biggest stars in all of sports. Not just UFC. He’s one of the biggest stars in sports.”
“I knew someone was going to ask me this today. Khabib’s videos have generated 222 million views. His content that features him: over 100 million views this year alone on Facebook. He’s broken records on Instagram, I could rattle off numbers all day. He’s the number one by far most played character in the video game by a long shot. And the numbers just go on and on, I could go on for days. But the kid’s broke a lot of records.”
Massive Fight
Meanwhile, White believes that this will be one of the biggest fights of all-time. It’s a very compelling match-up because many people believe that Gaethje can beat Khabib. However, only time will tell if this is true or not. White said:
“And what makes this fight so big is that people believe this kid has the style to beat him. So you have all the ingredients for a massive fight. You have a big superstar and you’ve got a kid that’s coming off an incredible win over a highly respected fighter and many people believe that he has the style to win.”
“UFC 254 impressions are at 23 billion,” White said later. “So how is this such a big fight? The world is not the same place it was eight months ago. Everything is completely different now and this is a massive fight that didn’t even need a world tour to pull 23 billion impressions.”
