Tony Ferguson’s coach Eddie Bravo recently spoke about the UFC lightweight title picture, saying that he believes Conor McGregor would actually be an easier match up than the one they have ahead of them in Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“Khabib will be the toughest guy in the lightweight division for a very long time,” Bravo said about Ferguson’s biggest challenges, during an appearance at WFAN’s Outside the Cage podcast. “Conor would be an easier fight for Tony. Khabib’s going to be tough.”

According to the 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu founder, Khabib is dangerous on the ground, but they will be taking a completely different approach than most of his opponents. Bravo says they plan to attack him in his strengths.

“Nobody is doing what he’s doing with his ground and pound, with his takedowns, with his ground control, and his smashing. He’s the best, probably of all time, really. It’s a tall order, but most people are running from Khabib when they’re on the ground,” Bravo said. “They’re spending most of their time trying to get back up, trying to drag themselves up on the fence, and he just rides them and drags them down.

“That’s a good strategy in certain situations. But we’re going to turn around and attack him,” he said. “We’re going to thank him for taking Tony down, and we’re going to throw some fire at him. It’s going to be different. No one has done that.

“I’m sure his defense is going to be tight. I’m sure he’s going to be studying rubber guard and all that, but we’re going to come there with fire,” he said. “We’re going to come right at him.”

Although he will likely be the more dangerous striker in this match up, most of Ferguson’s finishes in the UFC have actually come via submission. This includes his interim title win over a strong wrestler in Kevin Lee, who he tapped with a triangle choke.

Khabib of course is a completely different animal, and it will be interesting to see if Ferguson’s opportunistic and somewhat unorthodox submission game can actually stifle that dominant top control.

Ferguson vs Khabib happens on April 7 at UFC 223. According to Dana White, it will be for the “undisputed title,” while McGregor is somehow also still the champion.