Islam Makhachev’s head coach, Javier Mendez,
believes that Justin Gaethje was the biggest threat to Islam, and
says he’s out of the picture now:“I thought that [Gaethje] was the biggest threat for us, and now
he’s probably never gonna be in the picture for us going
forward.Advertisement
No… pic.twitter.com/OG3mgE6Mvg
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS)
April 29, 2024
American Kickboxing Academy coach Javier Mendez believes the
biggest threat to Islam
Makhachev’s lightweight title reign is gone.
Mendez considered Justin
Gaethje to be the biggest threat to Makhachev. With Gaethje’s
wild striking, proven knockout power and NCAA Division I wrestling
background, Mendez considered “The Highlight” the toughest
stylistic matchup for Makhachev at lightweight.
Untill recently, Makhachev was expecting to defend his lightweight
belt against Gaethje, who had essentially earned himself a title
shot with a knockout win over Dustin
Poirier. However, Makhachev would only be ready to fight in the
summer after Ramadan, leaving Gaethje in an awkward position. In
the meantime, Gaethje accepted a UFC
300 clash against Max
Holloway with his BMF title on the line. Holloway put an
absolute beating on Gaethje before knocking him out in the fifth
round, removing “The Highlight” from the title picture for the
meantime.
Mendez now believes that Makhachev and Gaethje are unlikely to ever
cross paths in the UFC.
“For me, the guy out of all I guys that I thought was for us,
stylistically was very dangerous out of all of them — I thought it
was Justin Gaethje,” Mendez said on his podcast. “Stylistically, because of his wrestling
pedigree and his striking is really good, strong. And it’s all
apples and oranges, right, because everybody brings different
skillset. So I thought he was the biggest threat for us, and now
he’s probably never gonna be in the picture for us going forward.
No need to talk about [does he] pose a threat because he’s never
gonna be there.”