Canadian UFC legend Georges St-Pierre stated that he believed in his chances to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“I’m not saying that Khabib couldn’t beat me, but I really, really believed in my chances against him. I think I would have beaten him. Khabib is a good overhand right hander, so the opponents in the cage have to deal with the dilemma – defend from the right hand or from the takedown? He was a very good fighter. Khabib was at his most dangerous when he pushed you somewhere near the net and then just dominated.
My style is different from Khabib’s. I liked to destroy opponents in the middle of the cage. In the fight against Khabib, I would have tried to stay in the middle of the cage as long as possible and look for opportunities to knock him down. I think I would be the first or one of the few opponents of Khabib who would have tried to knock him down. I would have tried to dominate the middle of the cage and pressure Khabib.
I think a lot of the guys who fought Khabib were afraid of takedowns, so they backed away from him until they ended up getting pinned against the net and knocked down. Khabib was more seriously opposed by only three guys: Tibau, Johnson and Gaethje. Tibau was probably the closest to victory. It was a very close fight. Johnson, my former training partner, had some good moments against Khabib, but as soon as he lost confidence in his strength, he broke down. A similar thing happened with Gaethje. He started the fight well, punching and kicking his opponent, but as soon as the fight went in another direction, he panicked,” said G. St-Pierre.
The Canadian noted that a few years ago, the fight with Nurmagomedov would have been the only one that would have brought him back to the cage.
“In those days, everyone wanted to see this fight. If I would have returned to the cage after announcing my retirement, I would have done it for this fight.
I’m 42 now, and I’ve always said that when I hit 40, that’s when I’ll close the door on a possible return to MMA. Khabib retired when I was 38 or 39. At that time, some people from Khabib’s environment said that he was going to challenge me, but then he announced the end of his career and thus surprised everyone,” noted the Canadian.
