UFC: Justin Gaethje maps out how he can beat Khabib Nurmagomedov in lightweight title match

Even before he beat Tony Ferguson at UFC 249, it was hypothesised by many that Justin Gaethje might actually be the most dangerous match-up for Khabib Nurmagomedov in the lightweight division.

Gaethje battered Ferguson for the best part of five rounds on his way to a stunning TKO that secured him the interim lightweight title and a title fight with 155-pounds champ Nurmagomedov.

The undefeated Russian (30-0) has swept all before him in the UFC, riding a 12-0 win streak, with no man able to crack the code. Well, maybe apart from Gleison Tibau (“I think he lost,” says Gaethje). But certainly since that 2012 fight, Nurmagomedov’s second in the UFC, he has looked almost unbeatable and has barely lost a round.

“I’ll do it the same exact way I’ve done it for every single fight,” Gaethje told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto defiantly, however. “I’ll work to be my best self. I’m so athletic. The first thing to go when you get tired is your legs, so my legs, from now until then, I’m gonna be running a lot, jump rope a lot, a lot of step ups, squats.”

Such is Gaethje’s wrestling pedigree – an NCAA Division 1 All-American – that Ferguson didn’t even bother trying to take things to the ground in Jacksonville, Florida. Couple that with some of the deadliest hands in the game, and that’s why many expert observers, such as former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, feel he has a chance against Nurmagomedov.

“If my legs are in shape I don’t get tired,” Gaethje added. “If I don’t get tired I can get back up. If I can get back up, I can hit him like a truck. I only gotta kick him eight times in the calves before he’s compromised. There’s lot of factors. I’m gonna work on being me, stay in shape. It’s all cardio.”