Former Strikeforce
lightweight king Josh Thomson
believes Justin
Gaethje can give 155-pound
Ultimate Fighting Championship ruler Islam
Makhachev a run for his money.
Advertisement
Makhachev (25-1) recently expressed interest in taking on a new
opponent in Gaethje (25- 4) instead of rematches against Charles
Oliveira or Arman
Tsarukyan. Thomson believes “The Highlight” is the toughest
fight in the division for Makhachev, owing to the intricacies of
their contrasting styles.
Thomson noted that while Gaethje is notorious for avoiding
wrestling, Makhachev’s wrestling isn’t very conventional. The
Dagestani, self-admittedly, likes to work on sweeps and trips from
the clinch, where Gaethje can be very dangerous on the break.
“I believe right now out of all of them, the hardest fight for him
is Justin Gaethje. You say ‘no’ because of the wrestling, and I
understand why you say no,” Thomson said on the “Weighing In”
podcast. “But I say this: Islam has a tendency sometimes to stand
in the pocket a little bit too long, and he can’t afford to do that
with Justin; and his wrestling is not double-leg takedown
wrestling.
“Justin’s not someone who sits in that clinch for too long. He’s
good at breaking out of the clinch. He’s good at keeping you out of
that clinch area and letting his hands go. Dirty boxing, uppercuts;
he possesses the power to land the shot out of the break. He’s a
dangerous fight for Islam. Very dangerous.”
Gaethje suffered a submission loss in a title unification bout
against Makhachev’s predecessor Khabib
Nurmagomedov at UFC 254 in 2020. Thomson further noted that
while Nurmagomedov managed to take Gaethje down, he had to walk
through several cracking shots from Gaethje, a feat “The Eagle” was
known for. However, Thomson doubts if Makhachev can afford to take
flush shots from “The Highlight.”
“I’m saying that we’ve seen Justin can take it. He can deliver it.
His only weakness in this fight is that if his back hits the
ground, it could be over quick. And I’m saying it will potentially
hit there, but I say that if you’re going to look at who is the
most dangerous fight for him, and we saw it with Khabib in the
first round.
“Khabib took some big shots from Justin in that first round, and
Khabib just walked him down. Islam’s not going to fight him that
way. He can’t afford to fight him that way. He can’t afford to take
the shot that Khabib took. He can’t, and he’s got to close that
distance to get to that takedown.”