The rumor is, Khabib Nurmagomedov might be facing all-time welterweight great Georges St. Pierre sometime in 2019. If the fight does go down, who wins will largely be predicated on wrestling. Daniel Cormier, Khabib’s teammate, this weekend’s UFC 230 headliner and a man who knows a little bit about wrestling, predicts that Khabib will win- but it won’t be an easy fight, an assessment Khabib himself agrees with. Via MMAFighting.com:
“Khabib wins but this is his closest fight ever because you don’t just control Georges St-Pierre,” concluded Cormier. “But you’re asking me a loaded question because I’m never gonna say Khabib’s gonna lose.
“I think it’s a five-round decision. You don’t finish Georges St-Pierre, unless you are Matt Serra.”
He does think it’s the fight to make, though it will leave poor Tony Ferguson out in the cold. He also floated the ever-popular idea (at least to fighters lately) of fighting at 165, and said it is a big enough fight that it doesn’t require a belt on the line to make it compelling. That could bypass Dana White’s concern trolling that GSP would need to prove himself as a lightweight contender before getting a title shot.
“Khabib has a number of options,” Cormier said recently on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “Tony is great. I don’t dislike Tony Ferguson at all. I think he’s a phenomenal fighter, this dude’s a beast. I think he’s the tougher matchup for Khabib but I say do Khabib vs. Georges St-Pierre. That’s the fight. It’s big.”
“Matchup wise, Tony, tough, GSP, super tough; but the history and the matchup of a GSP fight, at 165. . .” Cormier said. “It doesn’t have to be for a belt. This is a big enough fight that it doesn’t have to be for a title. Make it a catchweight fight. When you’ve got names like Khabib and Georges, it can be for anything. Let those guys fight.”
The prospect of deciding potentially the greatest MMA grappler in history is an intriguing one. Of course, the UFC’s new signing, Ben Askren, also wants a piece of that action.
Source : mmamania
