Photo by Stephen Maturen/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
“I think unorthodox gives Khabib problems.”
It’s the fight everyone’s talking about — Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson.
Although the matchup hasn’t been made official, many people believe both men are on a collision course with destiny and that it’s imperative for Nurmagomedov to defend his UFC lightweight title against Ferguson to cement his legacy as the greatest lightweight fighter of all time.
Ferguson, who is on a whopping 12-fight win streak in what is arguably the most talent-stacked division in the UFC, has the fighting style to potentially shut down Khabib’s offense.
That’s according to former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley, who believes Ferguson’s submissions and unorthodox striking could pose all kinds of problems for ‘The Eagle’.
“Ferguson has, in my opinion, one of the best chances to do well against him because he’s so fucking offensive from his back — it may not be a bad idea to be taken down,” Woodley said in a recent episode of Food Truck Diaries, per The Body Lock’s Abhinav Kini.
“You got to embrace it [the takedown] early, you don’t want him all sweaty, Khabib doesn’t have a huge neck. … So if I was fucking Tony, walk Khabib down, try to fuck him up. And if Khabib takes you down, go grind his ass out. I think unorthodox gives Khabib problems.”
Although Woodley believes Ferguson has one of the best chances of beating Nurmagomedov, ‘T-Wood’ isn’t sure how ‘El Cucuy’ could possibly prepare for a fighter of Khabib’s caliber.
“And it’s easy for me to sit here and say that. But how do you train with somebody that can produce the type of pressure that Khabib does and also, think like Khabib?” Woodley added.
“Because Khabib may go for a body lock, go for a foot sweep. They don’t know his second or third attack like Khabib knows. Even if they come and do what they saw in the Octagon, he may only be on level one because nobody can stop it. He may have a second or third level that we don’t know about. How can your training partners mimic that?”
Expect the UFC to announce Khabib vs. Ferguson in the coming weeks.