Domaren John McCarthy tror att Tony Ferguson kommer att bli en tuff motståndare för lättviktsmästaren Khabib Nurmagomedov. De två möter varandra i New York den 18 april nästa år under UFC 249.
McCarthy tror inte att Khabib kan bryta ner Ferguson psykiskt eller fysiskt och känner att den ryske mästaren kommer behöva justera sin gameplan inför mötet.
Via podcasten ’Weighing In’ med Josh Thomson:
Khabib needs to fight a specific fight to beat Tony Ferguson. And he needs to be in that mindset of ‘I will put myself in these positions that you say you’re comfortable with and I’m going to make you uncomfortable with what you think you’re comfortable with.’ That’s where I think Khabib needs to put this fight for him to grind out a fight against Tony because he is not going to physically break Tony.
It’s not going to happen. Tony does not have that in his head. You are not going to push him past that cliff as far as exercise output in that he gets exhausted — that’s not going to happen. And you are mentally not going to break him. Khabib can talk to Tony all he wants and just realize that every word you say will be two words coming back in the opposite from Tony talking back to you. So don’t get into this whole thing of ‘I want to mentally break’ — you’re not going to do that. There are those guys. But this guy just does not break.
Han tror även att Khabib kommer att behöva fokusera på var han håller huvudet för att undvika att bli submittad från undre positionen.
… In this camp, Khabib has got to work on head position. His head needs to centerline and up. From that sternum to that chin, that’s where your head is at. When it starts to go either side, he’s going to have a problem.
If he is in guard, he needs to be careful of keeping his head in that sternum. Everything is depending upon your position. But if you’re against the cage, in the standup clinch, don’t stick your head to the left or right. I want your head center line, into his chin up. Don’t give him that side to side.
Håller ni med om det McCarthy säger gällande byte av taktik? Tror ni att Ferguson kan få övertaget mot Khabib på detta sättet?
