UFC lightweight contender Justin Gaethje said he is ready to fight UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
"I’m not saying I could beat him in a wrestling match, but a wrestling match is what I did my whole life. He’s not going to go out there and dominate me in a wrestling match," Gaethje said recently on The MMA Hour.
"What it comes down to is my cardio being up to par with his, and the ability for me to grapple in as many situations and get into as many scrambles as he’s able to get into, because that’s where he breaks people. He gets you in the scrambles and you get tired. That is some tiring stuff. That’s why I avoid it, because I don’t want to get tired — I want to try to knock him out," he added.
"I would and will focus on that when I fight Khabib. I’m starting to do it now, so that when I do get that fight, I can wrestle for 25 minutes if I need to," MMA Fighting cited Gaethje as saying.
Nurmagomedov is serving a suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission for his post-fight conduct at UFC 229.
