UFC 254: Justin Gaethje insists he had Khabib Nurmagomedov ‘in trouble’ and ‘caused damage’
- ‘I wasn’t very many kicks away from him not being able to walk, he’s gonna be limping for the next three weeks,’ says American
- ‘I believe I did a very good job of controlling the distance and threatening and causing damage’
Khabib Nurmagomedov needed just six-and-a-half minutes of Saturday’s night’s five-round UFC 254 main event to put Justin Gaethje away with a triangle choke.
But “The Highlight” (22-3) feels that doesn’t tell whole story of the fight.
“It sucks. I’m hurt, I’m emotional, but ultimately it’s the name of the game,” 31-year-old American Gaethje told ESPN on the post-event broadcast. “I had him in trouble. I wasn’t very many kicks away from him not being able to walk.
“He’s gonna be limping for at least the next three weeks. That’s nothing to be proud of because I lost, but I felt alive, and I felt great.”
Gaethje certainly exacerbated the 32-year-old Dagestani native’s pain with some brutal leg kicks at the behest of his coach Trevor Wittman. So much so, Nurmagomedov quickly decided to revert to “father’s plan” and take his opponent down in the second round after mostly staying on the feet in the first.
