Professional MMA fighter & trainer Hollywood Joe Tussing brings you the Fight Preview for the main fight on the UFC 223 fight card on April 7, 2018, the
Lightweight Title fight between Tony Ferguson and unbeaten contender Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Fight has fallan through three times so hopefully the fourth time
will be the charm and actually happen on April 7th, 2018. This time around the fight has a lot more implications and repercussions as UFC Gold is on the line with the title,
and a possible fight with the top UFC Champion Conner McGregor in the future. Watch the full video for the fight analysis pick and prediction.
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Tony Ferguson
Current Lightweight Champion Tony Ferguson is riding a 10 fight win streak, and entered the octagon via the Ultimate Fighter Reality TV show, winning the show by knocking out
Ramsey Nijem. He won two fights in the octagon and then lost to Michael Johnson, a common opponent with Khabib, in May 2012. Since that loss, Tony Ferguson has
looked spectacular, almost perfect. He has beaten Rafael Dos Santos, Edson Barbosa, and he picked up the interim title by beating Kevin Lee in his last bout, with a third round
triangle choke. It was a great fight but it did expose some holes in Tony Ferguson’s game, that Khabib Nurmagomedov may be able to use since his style is somewhat similar to
Kevin Lee’s.
Tony Ferguson is an outstanding very unorthodox striker. His cadence is very broken, he does not usually throw the same strike twice, he uses a lot of spinning attacks,
a lot of teeps He is not the most powerful puncher, but he is a high volume puncher, so if he is able to rock his opponent, he usually does a lot of damage. In his fight with Edson Barbosa he threw a step in elbow, he split Barbosa open very badly, and caused a huge gash on his face, with blood everywhere. This was one of the things that ultimately led to
Ferguson being able to lock up the Darse Choke, and choke Barbosa out of the match.
On the ground the 10th Planet Blackbelt is outstanding, very very long arms and very long legs so he is very good at locking up triangles as well as Front Chokes, Darse Chokes,
Anaconda Chokes and so on. Ferguson is a very good scramble fighter, and that is one of the things that makes him such a formidable opponent for anyone in the UFC. He
is a nonstop, go-go-go kind of fighter. On the ground, there is no waiting, when he is on his back he is attacking with submissions, as well as with his elbows, which is one of the
things he really looks to when he fights. Ferguson really likes to throw elbows to cut his opponents, so that is something Khabib is going to have to watch out for.
In his fight with Kevin Lee, he was somewhat exposed with his inability to get back to his feet when he really wanted to. Kevin Lee is a very good wrestler but he is not on the same
level as Khabib. He is a very strong guy but he is not as strong as Khabib either. Lee was able to hold Tony Ferguson down on the ground pretty well, and do a lot of ground and pound damage. This is all while Kevin Lee also had a staff infection, which caused a lot of problems with Lee’s cardio in the third round. Who knows, that fight may have gone
differently if Lee was at 100%.
In Ferguson’s fight with Rafael Dos Anjos, you could tell that the strength difference caused a problem for Ferguson. He was not able to control Dos Anjos at all. It was a
very good back and forth fight on their feet. Dos Anjos, is a pretty basic striker, he does not do anything out of the ordinary. He likes to come forward and throw very straight
punches, somewhat similar to the way Khabib fights on his feet, but with not as much pressure. Khabib puts on much more pressure, and throws far harder shots.
Khabib’s stand up is very basic but he has a lot of power in his punches. He is OK to take a couple punches to get a hold of a leg or to work against the cage to get a takedown.
Obviously Tony Ferguson has a big mountain to climb in this fight. Ferguson’s stand up and unorthodox style will pose some problems for Khabib.
Additionally, in Khabib’s fight with Edson Barbosa he had a lot of trouble taking Barbosa down, and getting close enough to get Barbosa to the ground. That said,
Barbosa has a lot more power than Ferguson does.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib Nurmagomedov is 25-0, and is the favorite in this fight. He is the challenger and comes in at -270 against a +220 underdog, and for good reason.
Apart from being 25-0, Khabib has looked flawless in his 9 UFC fights and he is just a wrecking machine. Everyone he has fought, barring his fight with Gleison Tibau,
he has taken down to the ground and obliterated. The one fight that Khabib and Tony Ferguson have in common is the Gleison Tibau fight. Tony Ferguson was able
to rock Tibau pretty well. It was a high paced stand up fight and Ferguson was able to take Tibau’s back and get the rear naked choke. In Khabib’s fight, he had a lot of
problems with Gleison Tibau. Tibau is a very strong fighter and he was able to defend a lot of the takedowns and cause a lot of problems for Khabib on his feet.
Tony Ferguson really believes that Khabib lost his bout with Gleison Tibau. I think it was a very close fight, but I would give the win to Khabib.
Khabib’s ground and pound technique is second to none in the UFC. There is no one else in the UFC who has as much top control as Khabib,
the only fighter even close is Ben Askren, and hopefully we will get to see Ben Askren and GSP fight soon. Khabib Nurmagomedov is very strong on his feet although
his stand up is very basic. We saw him get rocked by Michael Johnson. Khabib has a very hard chin and he puts every bit of power he has into every punch he throws.
He is always coming forward and his shovel hooks are very powerful and have given him a couple of knock outs. Khabib is going to look to take Ferguson down and elbow and
ground and pound as much as possible. That is what Khabib’s ground game consists of. It is passing and ground and pound, he does not really look to submissions although
Khabib is a super high level Sambo player. That is where Ferguson may have some problems. Ferguson is going to try to roll into knee bars and leg locks like he does with
other fighters, but he is not going to be able to move like he does underneath other UFC fighters, as Khabib is going to stop a lot of the movement that Tony Ferguson has
from the bottom. I don’t know if Tony Ferguson is strong enough to deal with the posture that Khabib has on the bottom as well.
That is what we will look for. Can Khabib take down Ferguson? Will he do what he has done to every other opponent he has had, and just smash Ferguson’s face for five
rounds and maybe get the finish by TKO? Or will Tony Ferguson be able to come with one of his highlight submissions, catching Khabib as he comes forward with one of his
triangle or Darse choke and finish the undefeated Dagistani. I don’t know what will happen, but I’m putting my money on Khabib. You can’t go against 25-0 that has looked as
spectacular as he has in the octagon.
This is going to be a great event for UFC 223, also with a great co-event with Rose Namajunas defending her title against the former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
This is going to be a great night of fights!
