Nyligen stod det klart att Michael Chandler kommer att stå som reserv inför huvudmatchen på UFC 254 och nu berättar han att han tror att han är en bättre brottare än mästaren Khabib Nurmagomedov.

För ett tag sedan kunde den tidigare lättviktsmästaren i Bellator Michael Chandler utannonsera att han skrivit på för organisationen UFC. Det kunde även meddelas att han skulle stå som reserv i den uppkommande titelmatchen mellan Khabib Nurmagomedov och Justin Gaethje. Inför matchen anser sig Chandler vara en bättre brottare än UFC-mästaren Nurmagomedov.

En bättre brottare

Det var under en livesändning på instagram som Chandler förklarade vad han tror gör att han är ett hot i UFCs lättvikt. Han nämnde då sin egna brottning i relation till Nurmagomedovs.

I think I’m the better wrestler than he is. That’s not to disrespect his wrestling. I think he has shown to be the most dominant wrestler in mixed martial arts, the most dominant wrestler in the world. What he does to guys, he comes forward with reckless abandon, pushes you against the cage, picks you up, put you down and puts you in the Dagestani handcuff. Full mount, side guard, crucifix, half guard or in your guard – the guy is dangerous everywhere. I will say, he’s never, to my knowledge, fought a Division-I, high-level Division 1 wrestler. I don’t think he’s fought anybody who is a Division-I wrestling All-American. There’s just a different breed out there. There’s a different breed between a high school wrestler who got into mixed martial arts and stopped doing wrestling many years ago and a guy like myself, who was a Division-I wrestling All-American.

Planen för matchen

Chandler fortsatte med att berätta att hans plan för en match mot Nurmagomedov är att ta ned Nurmagomedov utan att bli nedtagen själv.

The game plan against Khabib – he’s not going to take me down I don’t think. If he takes me down, he’s not going to hold me down. I’m going to be able to take him down unlike everybody else who has been up to fight him. As we saw in the Khabib versus Al Iaquinta fight, when he can’t take you down he starts to resort to a little bit of sporadicism, a little bit of – he gets off his game. A little bit of seeds of doubt get planted in his head because he knows he doesn’t have great striking, he knows his ability to win the fight is predicated on him being able to get in your face, to put you up against the cage and pick you up and hold you down. That’s the game plan: Don’t get taken down. But that’s everybody’s game plan. So I’m going to sit here and say I won’t get taken down. You guys won’t be able to see it until possibly Oct. 24, or somewhere down the line. Because I will be fighting Khabib Nurmagomedov for the title in the near future. Get ready for it.

Hyllar Gaethje

Chandler hyllade även Gaethje och dennes insats tidigare under året då han besegrade Tony Ferguson.

I think Justin Gaethje looked like the best lightweight on the entire planet on the night he fought Tony Ferguson in May. He was calm, he was composed, he was sharp, he was throwing combinations to try to take Tony’s head off, but he never got overzealous. He got dropped in the second round, went back to the corner, came back and still stayed composed. He fought like the best lightweight on the entire planet on that night. So the game plan would be, keep my hands up, keep my chin tucked and get into a fist fight with him. I think I can match his cardio, I can go step for step.

En bättre fighter

Trots hyllningarna så anser sig Chandler vara en bättre fighter än Gaethje.

I think I have more power than he does. I think I could string together the wrestling and the grappling and the striking better than he can, and it will be the best fight possibly in UFC history when me and Justin Gaethje step into the cage, and we will step into the cage. I don’t know if it’s going to be for an interim title, I don’t know if it’s going to be for a No. 1 contender spot, I don’t know if it’s just going to be a main event on ESPN at some point down the road. I don’t know when it’s going to be.

Huruvida Chandler kommer att ställas mot Nurmagomedov eller Gaethje under UFC 254 återstår att se.