Coach Javier Mendez: “I’m Of The Belief That Khabib’s Mental Strength Is So Strong That I Personally Feel That He’s Never Going To Lose,”
Khabib Nurmagomedov boasts an unblemished MMA record holding the longest undefeated streak in MMA history, with 26 wins. Now ‘The Eagle’s’ latest challenge is arguably the toughest to date where he’ll be defending his lightweight title against former two-division champion Conor Mcgregor in the main event of UFC 229 on October 6.
There fight style to make things more intriguing as Khabib’s grappling ability has no match, and if the fight goes to the ground, he can be firmly in control of the game.
Meanwhile, McGregor’s power lies in his striking. Irishman has won 18 fights via TKO, mostly all of them by punches, and memorably knocked out Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds back in 2015.
According to Nurmagomedov’s head coach Javier Mendez says Khabib’s mental strength is so strong, that he can overcome any challenge inside the Octagon. (Via MMAMania)
“I’m of the belief that Khabib’s mental strength is so strong that I personally feel that he’s never going to lose,” Mendez told Niall McGrath on MMA Fighting’s all-new Eurobash Podcast. “I really don’t — I don’t think he’s ever going to lose. He’s going to find whatever he needs to do to win, whether he does it my way or does it his way, he’s going to find a way to win and that’s just what he does.”
With such confidence on his student, Javier made it known that he fears Conor Mcgregor’s striking is too good. No problem, coach says the undefeated lightweight champion wouldn’t stand and trade with Mcgregor at UFC 229, but instead, he put on a sound gameplan so ‘The Eagle’ can avoid as much damage as possible on feet.
“Basically it’s just me and him, myself and Khabib. We go through the gameplan and I structure it,” explained Mendez. “I’ve mostly been the one that structures all of the gameplans, except for with Daniel [Cormier], it’s myself and Bob Cook. I’ve been doing all the gameplans, the other coaches do a fantastic job and they fall into place where they’re needed, but the gameplan is usually always me.”
Regardless of the gameplan, Khabib still has to deal with Irishman’s mind games in the built of this super fight. It’s the hottest rivalry in MMA that has moved from trash talk to hotel-lobby encounters to felony charges will be settled inside the Octagon on October 6th. Khabib needs so cool his head out in his first title defense when the cage door closes.
“I’m not going to have to worry about keeping [Nurmagomedov] in check. He is so mentally strong that it’s not going to be an issue at all. Like I said, Conor is going to press his buttons, but it doesn’t matter. I believe Khabib is going to stay cool throughout the whole thing,” Mendez said.
“He’s going to dish it out as good as he gets it, and trust me, Conor’s going to give it to him because Conor is master at playing the game. He’s going to find an equal mental sparring partner as well as physical. This fight is going to be mental and physical, outside the fight and inside the fight, they’re both going to fight for the advantages.”
If Khabib successfully gets past Mcgregor, that’s not the end of a tough road, as he’ll have to deal with a plethora of difficult challenges in the lightweight division in a coming year.
Who do you think between Mcgregor and Khabib will steal the show at UFC 229?
