Khabib

Michael Chandler is on the same page as a lot of people: he believes Justin Gaethje could prove to be Khabib Nurmagomedov’s toughest challenge to date. But, the former Bellator champ thinks it’s “crazy” to bet against the reigning, lightweight king.

Khabib

Chandler says it’s “crazy” to put money on Gaethje

Gaethje has been tapped to face the undefeated Nurmagomedov at UFC 254, which will go down on October 24th. The former WSOF champ earned the opportunity by stopping Tony Ferguson this past May.

More recently, it was announced that Chandler has signed with the UFC, and that he will serve as a back-up fighter for the Nurmagomedov – Gaethje bout. Since then, Chandler spoke with ESPN, and not surprisingly, he was asked to weigh-in on the highly anticipated fight.

While talking about Gaethje, and how he looked against Ferguson, Chandler said this (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“I think Justin Gaethje looked like the best lightweight in the world in May when he fought Tony Ferguson,” Chandler said.

“That version of Justin Gaethje, who stepped into that cage calm and composed and confident, smart and sharp, fighting with the tenacity that he normally brings to the cage, but not the overzealous, overanxious Justin Gaethje ‘I wanna rip your head off’ fighter that we’re used to seeing – that was the best version of Justin Gaethje that we’ve ever seen.”

“Now, you take into consideration that Justin Gaethje was a Division-I wrestler, you take into consideration that we haven’t seen his wrestling, but know he’s got great athleticism, great hips, great instincts inside the cage – I think he poses the best threat that we’ve seen thus far against a guy like Khabib.

But I still think you’re crazy if you do bet against Khabib.”

And why is that? Chandler proceeded to explain why he’s going with Khabib at UFC 254.

“You’re crazy if you bet against him (Khabib) not being able to take Justin down,” Chandler said. “You’re crazy if you think Justin is going to be able to go in there and land combinations at will like he was Tony Ferguson.

The reason I like the Tony Ferguson fight is, he’s a standing target. He’s a stationary target. He takes punches in order to give punches later on down the line.

“….I think Justin is going to be fighting on his heels a lot, which is never something we’ve seen him able to do.

His leg kicks won’t be as effective on his heels. His power punches, his hooks, aren’t going to be as effective on his heels.

And I think we’re still going to see, I won’t say dominant victory by Khabib, but I think we’re going to see a lot of the same Khabib-esque type of fight, just in a less dominant fashion.”

We’ll find out soon enough

It’s an interesting take by Chandler, and he’s not the only industry figure who has opined that while Gaethje has the tools to push Khabib, the latter will very likely win.

Can Gaethje stop the galaxy glass wrestling and grappling of Khabib? To date, no one has been able to, not for long enough at least.

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