Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who at one time defeated nearly all of the division’s hardest punchers, responded to a question about whose punches impressed him the most.
“I think it was Justin Gaethje,” MMAJunkie quoted the undefeated Russian fighter as saying. “He punches like a truck, but I remember what broke him. He hit me with a right uppercut and a left hook, those were his best punches, and I told him, ‘Bro, is that all you got?’ I started talking to him in the cage.”
“I like Justin Gaethje, and after that combination, I asked him, ‘Is that all you have to offer?’ When he started getting tired at the end of the first round, I told him, ‘It’s all the jet lag because you flew to Abu Dhabi in a week and I’ve been here for a month.’ I knew what was going to happen to me in a week because it’s the desert. You have to be there at least a few weeks before the fight. I know myself – when I get there, the first week I can’t sleep.”
In October 2020, Khabib Nurmagomedov successfully unified the current and interim UFC lightweight titles by finishing Justin Gaethje with a triangle choke in the second round before announcing the end of his professional career.
After defeating Michael Chandler, the American made another unsuccessful attempt to win the championship belt, losing by rear-naked choke in the first round to Charles Oliveira, however, victories over Rafael Fisieff and Dustin Porier made him once again the leader of the contender race and a prime candidate to fight the winner of the title match between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/32463-khabib-nazval-sopernika-s-samym-silnym-udarom.html?rand=19907
