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Many have come and all of them have fallen to the king of the UFC lightweight division, Khabib 'The Eagle' Nurmagomedov. However, since he's been pitted against Tony Ferguson, who is on a 12-fight winning streak inside the Octagon, people are saying that 'El Cucuy' could break the unprecedented streak of the Dagestani fighter and be the one in 28-1.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier knows Nurmagomedov more than anyone else in the UFC. The pair train together at the American Kickboxing Academy and have been good friends for years now. Cormier has even been involved in some wrestling training with Khabib ahead of the latter's upcoming clash on April 18 at UFC 249.
Speaking to MMA Fighting recently, Cormier said that heading into his third title defense, Nurmagomedov is more focused than he has ever been as he knows that he is probably going up against the toughest opponent of his entire career.
“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."
Cormier also revealed that he has been looking at Ferguson's earlier fights and there are some holes in his game that the reigning champ can exploit to his advantage. He further said that Nurmagomedov could be a very bad matchup for Ferguson stylistically.
“I’ve seen Tony Ferguson at times struggle with the exact kind of game Khabib brings. Kevin Lee was able to implement a really good game plan early in that fight but he got tired. I watched Abel Trujillo take Tony down and control him. Those types of guys are able to do that and those guys are not on the level of Khabib Nurmagomedov.”
Cormier also reminded everyone that the Russian has only lost one round in his entire career, and that too, against a top athlete like Conor McGregor. Therefore, it is not Khabib, but Ferguson who has a mountain to climb in the fight.
“His top control is smothering. His understanding of grappling and grappling positions. The guy is just a beast. I think he’s going to provide a lot of problems for Tony. Honestly, he’s much better standing that people want to give him credit for it.”
