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Former UFC Champion Says He Has the Style & Skills to Beat Current UFC Champion
“I think it’s going to take a certain style, and if you don’t have that style, there’s a certain style you have to implement to beat him, and I feel like I can implement that style the best in this division, and I don’t know who else could,” Alvarez told MMA Junkie.
“When I think about the other competition and the top 10 in the UFC, and the other guys around, I don’t know if they’re able to implement the type of fight that you have to do to beat Khabib.”
“[Khabib vs. Dustin] went near according to the way I thought it would,” Alvarez said. “I wasn’t super surprised. I’m not a big ground fighter. Like, that’s not my goal when I go into a fight, and when I fought Dustin (Poirier) the second time, I found myself in positions where I was being dominant on the ground, and I didn’t necessarily have a goal to do that.
“When I found out he was fighting Khabib, that’s Khabib’s whole game, right? So I thought to myself, If it’s not even my goal and my thing, and I was dominating and about to finish a fight on the ground, . . . for sure Khabib [will] be able to get it done.”
. . .
“The most I can say is I’ve done it before,” Alvarez said. “If you watch the second Michael Chandler fight, and you watch a fight like that where you have a guy who just throws a big punch, tries to run you to the cage, tries to rip you to the ground, and pound you out on the ground, it’s like that’s the style you have to implement on a guy like that to beat him.
“You can’t stand in front of him! You’ve got to be able to move laterally. You’ve got to be able to shut down his wrestling, and when you do get into wrestling exchanges, you can’t be dominated. You’ve got to have another wrestler who can match his wrestling.”
. . .
“I don’t necessarily see Khabib as undefeated,” Alvarez said. “I think Gleison Tibau beat Khabib. When I watch that fight back, I feel like Gleison beat him. So there is a style out there, and there is a way to beat him.”
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2019/09/eddie-alvarez-best-style-to-beat-khabib-nurmagomedov
Summary: Styles make fights. He has the wrestling to neutralize Khabib. He'd use the same game plan he used to beat Chandler. One key is lateral movement. He believes Khabib lost to Tibau.
“I think it’s going to take a certain style, and if you don’t have that style, there’s a certain style you have to implement to beat him, and I feel like I can implement that style the best in this division, and I don’t know who else could,” Alvarez told MMA Junkie.
“When I think about the other competition and the top 10 in the UFC, and the other guys around, I don’t know if they’re able to implement the type of fight that you have to do to beat Khabib.”
“[Khabib vs. Dustin] went near according to the way I thought it would,” Alvarez said. “I wasn’t super surprised. I’m not a big ground fighter. Like, that’s not my goal when I go into a fight, and when I fought Dustin (Poirier) the second time, I found myself in positions where I was being dominant on the ground, and I didn’t necessarily have a goal to do that.
“When I found out he was fighting Khabib, that’s Khabib’s whole game, right? So I thought to myself, If it’s not even my goal and my thing, and I was dominating and about to finish a fight on the ground, . . . for sure Khabib [will] be able to get it done.”
. . .
“The most I can say is I’ve done it before,” Alvarez said. “If you watch the second Michael Chandler fight, and you watch a fight like that where you have a guy who just throws a big punch, tries to run you to the cage, tries to rip you to the ground, and pound you out on the ground, it’s like that’s the style you have to implement on a guy like that to beat him.
“You can’t stand in front of him! You’ve got to be able to move laterally. You’ve got to be able to shut down his wrestling, and when you do get into wrestling exchanges, you can’t be dominated. You’ve got to have another wrestler who can match his wrestling.”
. . .
“I don’t necessarily see Khabib as undefeated,” Alvarez said. “I think Gleison Tibau beat Khabib. When I watch that fight back, I feel like Gleison beat him. So there is a style out there, and there is a way to beat him.”
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2019/09/eddie-alvarez-best-style-to-beat-khabib-nurmagomedov
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