Conor McGregors coach, John Kavanagh, vet ännu inte om sin protegé blir av med sitt bälte, men tror att världen oavsett kommer betrakta irländaren som den rättmätige mästaren.
Tidigare under kvällen bekräftades det att Tony Ferguson och Khabib Nurmagomedov kommer mötas den 7:e april. Det har dock inte klargjorts huruvida Ferguson och Nurmagomedov kommer slåss om interim-titeln eller Conor McGregors titel i lättviktsdivisionen.
Med tanke på matchningen tror John Kavanagh på vinst till ryske Nurmagomedov:
They’re both grapplers for a start
Neither really has high level striking, so it’s going to be a grappling match. I think a lot of it will be played with Khabib on top, and I think he wins a decision. I think it goes the five rounds, I think it’s a decision to Khabib.
Khabib Nurmagomedov har en historia av att vara skadedrabbad och Kavanagh tror det finns stor risk att matchen inte blir av:
I do think there is a really high risk of it not happening. It’s been scheduled twice and it has not happened twice.
It’s very impressive what Khabib can do when he is fighting, just that pace he has and the relentless pressure, but it does require you to train in a certain way that brings on injuries. There is a reason why he is averaging one fight or less over the last couple of years because of multiple surgeries and so on.
He’s got a lot of miles on the athletic clock. I would almost see as there being a high likelihood of one pulling out before the fight happens.
Kavanagh fortsätter med att resonera kring varför Khabib inte kommer förmå sig avsluta Ferguson:
Let’s assume both get through their training camps, they’re both healthy, it happens and it’s five rounds. I think Tony will have some moments in the first round or two where he gets close with some guillotines or triangles, but I think Khabib powers out of them and wears him down as he does
I don’t think he really has the stopping power to finish him. His victory over Barboza was very impressive and so one sided, but he didn’t really break him up. His face wasn’t bashed up and rearranged, it was more just the volume of shots and guard passing and so on. I think that would start to wear on Tony and he’d start to steal rounds with takedowns. Yeah, Khabib by unanimous decision.
Det spekuleras kring att McGregor blir av med sitt bälte under presskonferensen för UFC 223 imorgon, och klargör att han inte vet vad som kommer hända med McGregors titel:
I’m hearing this at the same time as everyone else. I see there is a press conference that will happen tomorrow. I think Tony and Khabib, or else just Khabib, is being interviewed about the fight that Dana announced in April, which was news to me as well. Maybe they’re going to say it at that. Is it an interim title fight or is it a belt fight? I don’t know.
Oavsett vem som vinner, är Kavanagh övertygad om att världen fortfarande anser McGregor vara mästaren:
I think regardless of what way it’s sold, I think it’s still going to be known who the champion is. I know that’s going to upset a lot of people, but there you go, that’s my opinion on it.
“If it happens that those guys fight each other, and if it happens for the belt, they’re both going to think to themselves, ‘I’ve got to beat Conor to be really seen as the champion.
Conor McGregor sågs senast i buren mot Eddie Alvarez. Under UFC 205 fråntog irländaren Alvarez titeln i lättvikt, men har inte försvarat sin titeln sen dess.
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