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Nicolas Atkin

Khabib Nurmagomedov’s coach thinks Conor McGregor is “hands down” still the hardest match-up out there for the UFC lightweight champion.
Javier Mendez is set to fly to Dagestan to train Nurmagomedov (28-0) for his showdown with interim lightweight champ Justin Gaethje (22-2) at UFC 254 on October 24. The Russian has concerns about conducting his camp at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose like usual, with coronavirus cases high in California.
But asked who would be the toughest fight in the division stylistically for Nurmagomedov, Mendez told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto: “It’s the guy he already beat, Conor, hands down for me.
“Look at the fight with Conor,” Mendez added of their heated October 2018 clash. “He took him down in the first round. How much damage did Conor sustain in that first round, how much control did Khabib have with Conor? Where have you seen the opposite of that, never.


“He’s had better control. Conor’s stand up is great. Khabib’s stand-up is very underrated. People need to wake up – the man can strike. I don’t care what people say, ‘He can’t strike, oh that’s your chance, go and strike’. Go ahead. If Khabib didn’t have any grappling, go and strike with him, see what happens to you, see if he can’t knock you out.
“But the fact he’s such a great grappler, I as coach and his father, why would we advise him to go and stand with someone and give them a chance when he’s superior on the ground? For me, hands down Conor is the toughest challenge he’s ever had. We’ll see what Justin brings to the table but I still say Conor just on what we went through.”

AKA head coach Mendez thinks fighting the legendary former UFC welterweight and middleweight champ Georges St-Pierre (26-2) to go 30-0, should Nurmagomedov beat Gaethje, would be more appealing from a legacy standpoint than rematching Irish former two-division champ McGregor (22-4).
Mendez revealed he spoke numerous times with Khabib’s father and coach about taking on the retired Canadian St-Pierre, before the 57-year-old Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov’s death last month from issues related to contracting the coronavirus.
“It was discussed, at 30-0 leave a legacy, and GSP was definitely the legacy fight I think if he can complete that,” Mendez said. “I could see that happening. I think that’s a great fight. Potentially the greatest fight of all time.


“The one that may trump that is maybe Conor-Khabib II, that could very well be the biggest fight of all time. Conor’s got something to prove. Conor will come out of retirement just for that fight alone.
“But I don’t know if Khabib will want to fight Conor, that’s the issue. I don’t know if that fight puts him in the legacy talk. That would be the problem.
“It’s a money fight. Khabib has never been about money solely, he’s been about the legacy. He’s not a greedy man. That’s not gonna motivate him as a legacy fight will. So GSP 100 per cent is a big time motivation.”

Mendez said fighting Tony Ferguson (26-4), should St-Pierre not be available, is also more “enticing” for Nurmagomedov from a legacy standpoint than rematching McGregor. “El Cucuy” was set to finally face Nurmagomedov at UFC 249 in April, but the fight fell apart for a fifth time because of the coronavirus outbreak and Gaethje stepped in to score a fifth-round TKO over Ferguson.
“If Tony gets a win and the UFC puts Tony against Khabib next, and if we’re successful against Justin, then yeah, you have to fight him and Tony would deserve that,” he said.
“I think Tony screwed up on his last fight by overtraining, he shouldn’t have done that. In this game it’s a matter of inches, man, and you can’t go out there to do that and prove a point like he did to make the weight. Which is true warrior no doubt, but from a winning and losing perspective that might not have been the wisest move in my opinion.”


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Javier Mendez thinks hardest match-up out there stylistically for UFC lightweight champ is ‘the guy he already beat, Conor, hands down’
But AKA head coach thinks Georges St-Pierre and Ferguson more ‘enticing’ to Khabib to go 30-0 than McGregor rematch



Javier Mendez thinks hardest match-up for UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov is still Conor McGregor but Georges St-Pierre, Tony Ferguson more ‘enticing’ to go 30-0.


Khabib Nurmagomedov

Tony Ferguson

Justin Gaethje

Conor McGregor