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“I’m probably one of the only guys who is able to implement a style and beat Khabib.”
Although Eddie Alvarez no longer competes in the UFC, the former UFC lightweight champion still believes he’s capable of beating Khabib Nurmagomedov, who will put his lightweight title up for grabs against Tony Ferguson next month at UFC 249.
Speaking to Low Kick MMA’s Jordan Ellis in a recent interview, ‘The Underground King’ made his prediction for UFC 249 and explained why he would be such a dangerous matchup for Nurmagomedov.
“I think Khabib will be just too strong for Tony,” Alvarez, who now competes under the ONE FC banner, said. “I don’t think Tony’s a strong guy. I think it was when Kevin Lee fought Tony, he might’ve got his back and he was getting positions on him that were very dominant positions. I just think Tony makes too many mistakes. He makes too many mistakes and gets away with it pretty often. I don’t think he’s going to be able to get away with them facing Khabib. Khabib is too strong and too big for a guy like Tony. You need a smaller, stocky, strong wrestler to be able to compete and against Khabib. I don’t think a long lanky guy who is jujitsu based is the guy. I don’t think Tony is the style to beat Khabib.”
“I think my style is difficult for Khabib to deal with,” he said a possible matchup with Nurmagomedov. “Not my regular style that I go out fighting, where I’m getting in people’s face and try to put on a war. I have the ability to adjust. I can fight multiple styles because I fought for such a long time. I’m probably one of the only guys who is able to implement a style and beat Khabib. I don’t think a lot of guys have the resources and the tools to even implement the right style to beat Khabib. I think I have the right resources and the right tools to do that. And a lot of guys don’t. I don’t think Tony does. I don’t think a lot of guys in the division do.”
Alvarez signed with ONE Championship in 2018, where the former multiple-promotion champ currently competes as a lightweight. The MMA veteran hasn’t fought since his first-round submission win over Eduard Folayang at ONE Championship: Dawn of Heroes, which saw the 36-year-old advance to the Lightweight Grand Prix Final.