Justin Gaethje believes Khabib Nurmagomedov has one big weakness.
The pair will battle in a lightweight title unification bout in the UFC 254 headliner that takes place October 24.
Gaethje is riding a four-fight winning streak and is coming off a huge TKO win over Tony Ferguson. However, he faces the tough task of inflicting defeat on the undefeated Nurmagomedov, who has yet to truly be troubled inside the Octagon.
Gaethje: Nurmagomedov Surrounds Himself With People Who Stroke His Ego
“The Highlight” has already spoken of taking Nurmagomedov to a “zone of death” in their fight, but when asked if he thought “The Eagle” had a weakness, Gaethje had this to say.
“I think his biggest weakness is, I believe that he thinks he’s infallible,” Gaethje said on Michael Bisping’s podcast. “I think if you told him that now or brought it to his attention, I believe that he would be very good at explaining to you how he does not believe that. But I believe that he surrounds himself with people who stroke his ego.
“I believe that culture tends to – this is what I’m counting on anyways – yeah, they can stroke your ego, I’ve seen it over there. I’ve seen fighters really just surround themselves with a posse that really pumps them up and jacks them up. At the end of the day, he breathes oxygen. His brain needs to get oxygen. If I can short-circuit that oxygen supply for half a second, then he’ll go to sleep.”
Bisping agreed as he believed the people in Nurmagomedov’s camp were treating him like a Godlike figure and questioned whether they were pushing him hard enough in camp.
Gaethje agreed but at the same time, also believed he will be facing the toughest version of Nurmagomedov yet.
“Who’s beating his ass in sparring is what I want to know? Who is throwing the shots I’m gonna throw at his head because he needs to see that,” Gaethje added. “But again, it needs to be said, this is the toughest Khabib. He’s fought 28 times but no one’s fought this Khabib.
“With the circumstances that he’s fighting under right now with his father passing away — I can only imagine how tough this man’s gonna be to beat so I’m going to try my hardest.”
What is for sure is that UFC 254 promises to be a can’t-miss event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAMTUtG95d0
