Justin Gaethje: ‘I Guarantee Khabib Will Be In Trouble’ When We Fight

Justin Gaethje
Photos via Instagram @khabib_nurmagomedov @justin_gaethje

Justin Gaethje Talks Advantages He Has Over Khabib Nurmagomedov

Khabib Nurmagomedov has rarely been in any sort of trouble in all of his MMA career. However Justin Gaethje thinks that he could be the one to change that.

Gaethje is known as a wild brawler, and all-action fighter. Therefore, because of that it is easy to forget that he is a highly credentialed wrestler. More specifically, he specializes in folk style wrestling, which is only practiced in the United States.

According to a recent interview on UFC Unfiltered, Gaethje thinks this could be a benefit for him. UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has a wrestling heavy style. Although the style he uses is more of a Sambo base, but also varies from that. Nevertheless Gaethje says that his style of wrestling could cause problems for Khabib.

“I only wrestle folkstyle. I very rarely wrestle freestyle. In folkstyle, I think the biggest factor is, you’re allowed to expose your back without giving up points, which means you scramble. So whenever he goes to take me down, I’m going to be flipping and rolling in ways that he’s never felt in his life. That’s folkstyle wrestling, being able to expose your back.

What he’s done his whole life, these guys could never expose their backs to get out of a takedown because they were giving up points, and that’s the first thing you learn in freestyle is don’t expose your back. So you go straight to your stomach, and you give up a takedown. They also never have to get up. They just lay there for 15 seconds, then they stand them up automatically. In folkstyle wrestling, you get rewarded for getting up and escaping.”

Gaethje continues, further explaining why he is a bad match up for Khabib.

Gaethje says that he plans on forcing Khabib to stand and trade with him. Furthermore, he believes that the Dagestani would be unable to hold him down. Subsequently, he thinks that this could cause some serious problems for the champ.

“The only way to stop a takedown is to meet force with force. You don’t try to sprawl away. Whenever you do a sprawl, you don’t throw your hips away; you drive your hips into the mat. That’s how you stop a takedown, so I’ve wrestled my whole life and hit so hard. I guarantee he’s going to be in trouble. Dustin (Poirier) had him in trouble, and Dustin was on the fence the whole time.”

Do you think Justin Gaethje could be the first man to defeat Khabib Nurmagomedov?

Published on September 27, 2019 at 1:59 pm
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