Many fans are excited to see the crowning of the UFC interim lightweight champion on Saturday as UFC 209’s co-main event takes place.
Undefeated #1 UFC ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov is set to take on #2 ranked Tony Ferguson in a five-round interim title fight.
At the Fighters Only World MMA Awards, the pros were asked for their pick on who they think will have their hand raised between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson.
“Khabib hasn’t showed many flaws,” said Urijah Faber. “I think that grappling is going to be the difference. He’s gotta be careful coming in because I know he got rocked his last fight, got wobbled, so shows he got a little bit of vulnerability. But, to be honest, at the end of the day, wrestling in that situation is gonna win.”
Jake Ellenberger said he is extremely excited to see this matchup and feels like it is the main event of the night like Ferguson had mentioned during the UFC 209 media conference call.
“I can’t wait,” said Ellenberger. “This is the main event, this is the star fight right here. I’m a big fan of Tony. The guy is extremely well prepared. Very hard to fight. I’ve trained with Tony quite a bit too, he’s a very hard guy to, I mean he’s good on the ground, he’s good everywhere. I’m kind of giving Tony the slight edge. I mean, he’ll get taken down. No question. He’ll get taken down. I think he’ll get up. I think he’ll attack submissions. Honestly, I’m leaning towards Tony in this fight.
What did you think of the picks and breakdowns coming from the seasoned veterans? Give us your pick in the comment section for Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson!
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 3/3/2017.