{"id":365076,"date":"2020-10-21T06:19:50","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=365076"},"modified":"2020-10-21T06:20:37","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T13:20:37","slug":"khabib-nurmagomedov-makes-prediction-for-justin-gaethje-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedov-makes-prediction-for-justin-gaethje-matchup\/","title":{"rendered":"Khabib Nurmagomedov makes prediction for Justin Gaethje matchup at UFC 254"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has made a <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/khabib-nurmagomedov-makes-prediction-for-ufc-254-fight-with-justin-gaethje\/\">final<\/a> prediction for his fight with interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje.<\/p>\n<p>Nurmagomedov, who has never been beaten in 28 fights, will attempt to defend his title against Gaethje in the main event of UFC 254 this Saturday in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<p>The fight is widely viewed as the toughest challenge of the champion&#8217;s careers so far, but he&#8217;s optimistic the win will materialize.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on ESPN&#8217;s\u00a0<em>First Take,\u00a0<\/em>Nurmagomedov explained how he sees this fight going.<\/p>\n<p id=\"5OlZmP\">\u201cI feel I\u2019m going to make him tired and I\u2019m going to finish this guy,\u201d Nurmagomedov said (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2020\/10\/20\/21525211\/khabib-nurmagomedov-reveals-his-plans-for-justin-gaethje-at-ufc-254-make-him-tired-and-choke-him-out\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MMA Fighting<\/a>). \u201cThis is my opinion. But I\u2019m ready for all rounds. All five round war.<\/p>\n<p id=\"J3jwu6\">\u201cBut my goal on this fight, make him tired and choke him out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nurmagomedov rates Gaethje as a very solid opponent, and was particular impressed by the American&#8217;s last outing: a May TKO defeat of Tony Ferguson, who had not been beaten in 12 fights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJustin is a very interesting fighter,\u201d Nurmagomedov said. \u201cVery exciting. About his last fight, I was very impressed. It was a great performance. He knows how to wrestle, how to kick, how to punch. He has good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of this fight with Gaethje, Nurmagomedov is already considered one of the greatest fighters of all time. Many fans also consider him the best lightweight ever.<\/p>\n<p>The man himself, however, feels there is more work to be done before his GOAT status is set in stone, but acknowledges a win over Gaethje will be a big step in that direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think I need a couple more fights,\u201d Nurmagomedov said. \u201cA couple more fights, it\u2019s gonna be great for my legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khabib Nurmagomedov has held the UFC lightweight title since early 2018, when he captured the vacant belt with a win over Al Iaquinta. Since then, he&#8217;s defended it twice, with wins over Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. Other highlights of his flawless resume include wins over Rafael dos Anjos, Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza.<\/p>\n<p>Do you think he&#8217;ll get by Justin Gaethje this weekend?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has made a final prediction for his fight with interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje. Nurmagomedov, who has never been beaten in 28 fights, will attempt to defend his title against Gaethje in the main event of UFC 254 this Saturday in Abu Dhabi. The fight is widely viewed as the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":292163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10114,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Khabib Nurmagomedov makes prediction for Justin Gaethje matchup at UFC 254 | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has made a final prediction for his fight with interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje.\" \/>\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\/khabib-nurmagomedov-makes-prediction-for-justin-gaethje-matchup\/\" \/>\n<meta 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