Khabib Nurmagamedov is possibly the most intimidating MMA champion in the world right now. We saw Dustin Poirier’s gameplan collapse last year against the Russian. In short, he takes fighters down to the ground and pounds on them until he gets a submission or a TKO.
The Eagle will fight Tony Ferguson in April in one of the most anticipated fights of all-time between the two most exciting lightweights in the world. If he beats Ferguson then a potential rematch with Conor McGregor is on the cards. This is one of the biggest rivalries in the sport.
McGregor is desperate for a rematch with Khabib because he wants to get his loss back. The pair have been going back and forth online for the past year. Now Khabib has targeted his nemesis on Twitter again.
Khabib’s latest blast at McGregor came after the Irishman boasted about his knockout record. When he defeated Donald Cerrone, the Irishman claimed to be the first UFC fighter to win by KO/TKO in three weight classes. However, it has since emerged that Jared Cannonier beat him to it. ‘The Killa Gorilla’ knocked out opponents at heavyweight, light-heavyweight, and middleweight.
Nurmagamedov didn’t bother mentioning this. But he tweeted a picture of McGregor losing by submission in three weight classes. That’s incredibly harsh but brilliant trolling by the Russian fighter.
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Cardio Machine
Meanwhile, Khabib’s head coach Javier Mendez believes that his fighter has the cardio to handle Tony Ferguson’s pace. Ferguson has unbelievable endurance. He’s also incredibly unorthodox in his fighting style. But this shouldn’t be a problem for the champion.
“You have to remember Khabib is a cardio machine too, so what’s the big deal?” Mendez said, per Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA. “So you got a guy [Ferguson] that’s going to be there in the fifth round — so what? Khabib is going to be in the fifth round too.”
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War
These men both brutalize their opponents. Khabib gets on top of them and smashes them to oblivion. Ferguson slices and dices with knees and elbows, mangling the faces of his foes. This is going to be a bloody battle one way or another. It’s an incredibly exciting match-up, so let’s hope it actually happens this time. Please listen to our prayers MMA Gods.
“I don’t anticipate a stoppage, I anticipate a war, five rounds,” he added. “I expect a five-round decision and a smashing. That’s what I’m predicting and that’s what, in my mind, we’re prepared to do. But in order to do that, we have to prepare for the toughest person we’ve yet to face and that’s Tony.
“You have to respect him that way in order to smash him that way. I’ve always done that. The respect for him is there because if we don’t respect him, we’re going to get smashed by him. You got to respect him and everything he does. And his five-round cardio thing, yeah, he’s going to be there for five rounds but when has Khabib been known to get tired?”
