Den före detta dubbelmästaren i UFC:s tungvikts och lätt tungviktsdivision, Daniel Cormier tränar till vardags på American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) i San Jose, Kalifornien. Där tränar också bland annat lättviktsmästaren Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov som är känd i sin viktklass för sin dominanta brottning har därför tränat mycket med den betydligt större före detta OS brottaren Cormier. Denne har också agerat brottningstränare åt Nurmagomedov på AKA.
Nurmagomedov planeras nu göra sitt tredje titelförsvar mot sin kanske svåraste motståndare hitintills, Tony Ferguson. Cormier berättar i en intervju för MMAfighting att Nurmagomedov sett bra ut i sina förberedelser inför fighten mot Ferguson och tror att träningspartnern kommer att vinna.
“He was looking good, Dude was training hard. He was very focused. He was aware of the challenge that was out in front of him. He’s a guy who understands how difficult Tony Ferguson is to prepare for and how tricky he can be inside the Octagon.
“So I thought he was on point. I thought he was ahead of schedule. I thought he was a true pro’s pro. That’s his new thing. That’s his trash talk — ‘I am professional, brother, this is my thing, I am professional.’ So he was really locked in.”
Ser svagheter som Nurmagomedov kan utnyttja
Cormier som även är expertkommentator åt UFC har även scoutat Ferguson inför fighten och ser luckor i dennes stil som Nurmagomedov kan utnyttja. Detta då denne blivit nedtagen utav brottare inte alls lika dominanta som Nurmagomedov.
“I’ve seen Tony Ferguson be so spectacular throughout the course of his career but I’ve also seen Tony at times struggle with the exact kind of game Khabib brings, The Kevin Lee fight — Kevin Lee was able to implement a really good game plan early in that fight but he got tired. Then Tony was able to take advantage of a mistake he made. I watched Abel Trujillo take Tony down and control him.
“Those types of guys, and granted that was a while ago, and Tony has improved vastly, those types of guys are able to do that and those guys are not on the level of Khabib Nurmagomedov.”
Ingen kan stoppa Nurmagomedov
Cormier fortsätter att hylla Nurmagomedov med att berätta att dennes brottning är så dominant att ingen hitintills kunnat försvara sig mot den. Trots att samtliga fighters vet vad Nurmagomedov främst kan hota med så är det ingen som lyckats förhindra att bli nedtagen utav den obesegrade ryssen.
“How good do you have to be that everyone you fight knows exactly what you’re gonna do. It’s no secret what Khabib is going to you and he’s still going to implement that game plan to a T, That tells you the level of what this guy is. You know what’s coming.
“My man Dustin Poirier trained for it. He knew but the moment Khabib grabbed him it was probably like ‘I’ve trained with guys before but they didn’t feel like this guy’. I just believe he’s so good at what he does, he doesn’t even have to hide it.”
