Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
“Taking his body and taking consciousness away from his body. That’s how I win this fight.”
Justin Gaethje isn’t planning to outpoint Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254, nor does he plan to go out like ‘no punk’.
The former WSOF lightweight champion says the only way to beat Khabib is to finish him via knockout, and that’s exactly what he intends to do on Saturday night.
“You don’t see it. The best thing is you have your hands on him so you can feel it,” Gaethje told Jimmy Smith in a recent interview (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA). “You can feel him quit. I don’t believe that will happen here — the way I’m going to beat him is by putting him to sleep. Taking his body and taking consciousness away from his body. That’s how I win this fight. Neither one of us are going to quit, neither one of us are going to give up.”
“We’ve both been training our whole lives,” he added. “We both will give our lives for this opportunity. As shallow as that may sound, we live for something and it’s for this and we’ve been preparing our whole life for this. It’s who we are, it’s what we do and it’s going to be a great fight. I ain’t going out like no punk, I can promise you that. I’m going to represent the United States of America, I’m going to represent my family and I’m going to represent myself to the fullest when I step into that Octagon.”
If anyone has the power to finish Nurmagomedov, it’s Gaethje. The former NCAA Division I wrestler possesses dynamite in both hands and has won all but two of his fights via stoppage, finishing most of his opponents inside the first two rounds. Gaethje is also the only fighter to TKO Tony Ferguson, whom he battered in the UFC 249 main event to win the interim lightweight title.
UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje takes place Saturday, Oct. 24 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.