Justin Gaethje has heaped the praise on his MMA rival and current Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Justin revealed to ESPN in an interview as quoted by DailyMail that he believes Khabib is a lot stronger than his weight class suggests.
Khabib retired with a perfect record of 29-0 and never seemed to be really tested by fighters in the two divisions he competed in of Lightweight and Welterweight.
He last fought Justin in UFC 254 in the lightweight class weighing 155 pounds but Gaethje believe that Khabib could beat fighters even 30 pounds heavier than him.
‘I’m not sure anybody under 185-pounds in the UFC or in the world could beat that man,’ Gaethje said
‘I mean, he’s very strong, very strong,’
‘You know, the transition from the takedown, his ability to take shots – I landed some really, really clean shots and he’s got a hell of a poker face cause he acted – I know it hurt him, but he reacted like it didn’t hurt him.’
‘He has a great jab, his jab is effective because of his level changes. I mean, you gotta almost pull your hips back every time he’s changing levels,’ Gaethje said.
‘I could’ve fought him a different way and tried to really stand my ground and not move as I did, you’ll never know — I’ll never know.
‘But I’ll move on and keep working and push onto the next one.’
Justin suggesting that there isn’t a single fighter between lightweight and middleweight that could beat Khabib is a very bold statement with Kamaru Usman sitting champion at Welterweight and the undefeated Israel Adesanya at middleweight.
Two of the scariest fighters in the UFC right now but Gaethje believes they’d be no match for Khabib.