{"id":361958,"date":"2020-09-22T11:21:31","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T18:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=361958"},"modified":"2020-09-22T11:21:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T18:21:31","slug":"michael-chandler-leaning-toward-khabib-nurmagomedov-in-justin-gaethje-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chandler-leaning-toward-khabib-nurmagomedov-in-justin-gaethje-matchup\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Chandler leaning toward Khabib Nurmagomedov in Justin Gaethje matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler is leaning toward a Khabib Nurmagomedov<\/a> victory at UFC 254.<\/p>\n

Nurmagomedov, the undefeated UFC lightweight champion, is set to defend his title against Justin Gaethje, the interim lightweight champ, in the main event of UFC 254 on October 24. Chandler, who recently signed with the UFC, is expected to be on standby in the event that Nurmagomedov or Gaethje is unable to compete on the night.<\/p>\n

If Nurmagomedov and Gaethje do fight on October 24 as planned, however, Chandler is expecting the champion to retain is title\u2014although perhaps not in the lopsided fashion to which we’ve grown accustomed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re crazy if you bet against him not being able to take Justin down,\u201d Chandler said. \u201cYou\u2019re 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\u2019s a standing target. He\u2019s a stationary target. He takes punches in order to give punches later on down the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cKhabib\u2019s not that guy. Khabib is going to be in Justin\u2019s face. We haven\u2019t seen Justin back up a lot. I think Justin is going to be fighting on his heels a lot, which is never something we\u2019ve seen him able to do. His leg kicks won\u2019t be as effective on his heels. His power punches, his hooks, aren\u2019t going to be as effective on his heels. And I think we\u2019re still going to see, I won\u2019t say dominant victory by Khabib, but I think we\u2019re going to see a lot of the same Khabib-esque type of fight, just in a less dominant fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Chandler is expecting a Nurmagomedov win at UFC 254, he does acknowledge that Gaethje should not be discounted\u2014particularly after he beat the streaking Tony Ferguson in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Justin Gaethje looked like the best lightweight in the world in May when he fought Tony Ferguson,\u201d Chandler told\u00a0ESPN<\/a>. \u201cThat 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 \u2018I wanna rip your head off\u2019 fighter that we\u2019re used to seeing \u2013 that was the best version of Justin Gaethje that we\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, you take into consideration that Justin Gaethje was a Division-I wrestler, you take into consideration that we haven\u2019t seen his wrestling, but know he\u2019s got great athleticism, great hips, great instincts inside the cage \u2013 I think he poses the best threat that we\u2019ve seen thus far against a guy like Khabib. But I still think you\u2019re crazy if you do bet against Khabib.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think of this breakdown from Michael Chandler?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler is leaning toward a Khabib Nurmagomedov victory at UFC 254. Nurmagomedov, the undefeated UFC lightweight champion, is set to defend his title against Justin Gaethje, the interim lightweight champ, in the main event of UFC 254 on October 24. Chandler, who recently signed with the UFC, is expected to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":361860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[25154,10114,10485,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichael Chandler leaning toward Khabib Nurmagomedov in Justin Gaethje matchup | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler is leaning toward a Khabib Nurmagomedov victory at UFC 254 on October 24.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/michael-chandler-leaning-toward-khabib-nurmagomedov-in-justin-gaethje-matchup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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