Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Khabib Nurmagomedov has already warned Justin Gaethje that he will be taken to the deepest ocean and drowned when the two face off in a Lightweight title unification fight at UFC 254 on Oct 24, 2020, and now “Highlight” is issuing his own to “The Eagle.”
According to the current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) interim Lightweight champion, Khabib better be prepared for all-out carnage when he enters his “zone of death.”
“There is going to be a zone in front of me, it’s not very big. It’s the zone of death and I have to represent death every time he enters the zone,” said Gaethje on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “That’s what I am best at, creating carnage, creating car crashes.”
It’s not exactly Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier-type trash talk, but it gets the point across.
Gaethje earned his first taste of UFC gold and the golden ticket to face Nurmagomedov after dominating Tony Ferguson at UFC 249 before scoring the technical knockout victory (see it again here).
Khabib, meanwhile, recently got back into the training room after losing his father to COVID-19. And though many expected the current 155-pound champion to take at least the remaineder of 2020 off (if not more), “The Eagle” is returning sooner than expected to continue his storied run.
At 28-0, 12-0 UFC, Nurmagomedov seems to be on the last leg of his stellar combat career, as talks of retirement once he reaches 30-0 has been the norm as of late. With potentially two more fights remaining in his career, Khabib has one of the stiffest test to date ahead of him that could very well end his perfect run thus far.
As location and venue has yet-to-be determined for this title unification bout, though UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada seems to be the most likely destination.