MMA Fighting - Dana White Announces Khabib Nurmadomedov vs. Justin Gaethje For Oct. 24 Reaction

Episode Date: July 28, 2020

Moments after UFC president Dana White made the announcement, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jose Youngs react to the lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje being booked for Oct. 24. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Follow José Youngs: @JoseYoungs Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, Mike Heck here for MMAfighting.com reacting to the big news of the day. UFC President Dana White tells CNN that the highly anticipated lightweight championship unification bout between Habib Nirmagamatov and Justin Gachi is on the books. And it will take place October 24th at what we assume will be UFC 255 location TBD. And as you've seen over the last several weeks, Dana White has been repeatedly asked by reporters about Nirmagamagamato. off status following the death of his father, Abdulmanoff earlier this month. And White had sort of stuck to a very common answer that he was going to give Habib as much time as he needed to recover from the tragedy. And it looks like the eagle may be ready to soar much sooner than most anticipated. As you guys probably know by now, Habib is 28 no, captured the vacant lightweight

title with the unanimous decision win over Ally Quinta at UFC 223 and then defended it twice successfully with submission wins over Connor McGregor and Dustin Porter. And he's going to take on Gaichi, who has just been on this absolute wrecking ball of a tear with first round finishes of James Vic, Edson Barbosa, and Donald Soroni. And then at UFC 249, the highlight was exactly that. And then some when he earned a fifth round TCA win over Tony Ferguson to become the interim lightweight champion. So huge fight. Huge news, which by the way, MMA fighting's Damon Martin confirmed with sources that this is a done deal. So this fight is a go for October 24th.

And with that said, let's bring in my colleague Jose Youngs to discuss this news. Jose, thank you for jumping on here. Wow, I have to be honest, if you asked me when I woke up this morning, what huge fight would be made official today? Habi versus Gatio with all things considered, probably would have been one of the last fights on my list. But here we are. It's a wild world. Your reaction to this massive 155-pound title fight being officially booked here. Oh, I thought the timing was weird.

Usually they like to announce these things on a big pay-per-view card or leading into a big event. But this was, what, a Tuesday morning or Monday night, whatever, if it was recorded or whatever. So when it aired Tuesday morning going into a fight night, headline by Edmund Shabazzian and Derek Brunson. So timing threw me off. But after getting past that, I'm obviously excited. This is the fight. I've made it known on the A-side. I had many a preview of post-fight and between the length show.

This is the fight I'm living forward to the most. I think I was looking forward to this more than, actually no, I am looking forward to this fight more than if one Habibu is supposed to fight 20 Ferguson. Yes, Tony Ferguson was on that long win streak. He deserved it. And for history's sake, that fight was fantastic. I wanted to see that fight so badly. But in terms of actual stylistic competition inside the Octagon and a fight that I think is much more even, Habibna Niroga Mano versus Justin Gage, he just checks all the boxes in my mind. Yeah, it was interesting because Dana White did like a 25-minute conversation with Brett Akamoto yesterday.

and was asked about this fight specifically, and Dana just sort of gave the same answer that he's been giving to everybody else. But like you said, this is the fight to make. It has been the fight to make since UFC 249. But with the death of Habi's father and the relationship that they had, I didn't expect to see him back until maybe 20, 21. But that was just like a full-on assumption on my part, of course. But he's ready to come back. First time it over a year taking on a surging interim champion in Justin Gaichi. And you sort of alluded to this.

but many people believe that they're going to favor Habib in this fight. But if anybody can do it, if anyone is crazy enough to be the one in 28 and 1, it's Justin Gachi. Do you look at it the same way? Yeah, I definitely favor Habib. I think he's the best fighter on this planet right now because that depends on the Thailand of John Jones, is retired or not, or never fights again. But I think Habib is the most dominant fighter right now.

He's never really looked in trouble, and I think Justin Gage is the man to do that. Yes, we talked about Tony Furrified. versus offense off of his back versus Habib's top pressure. And I think that's why that matchup was so intriguing. It's both of their strengths kind of played into the other one's strengths. But for this one, it's Habib who has done one thing and does it so well and does it better than anyone else in the history of mixed martial arts. And that is take you down, control you, stay on top, beat you up, and then finish you.

No one has been able to stop them. In my mind, Justin Gitchie in this division has one of the best chances. He has a phenomenal wrestling background, which he's never really showing. in his MMA career. He talks about it, but he hasn't had to use it, mostly because he's fighting guys and finishing them very quickly. I'm talking about this new Justin Gates, because, of course, he said after those back-to-back-to-back loss is kind of yet to reassess. So it's there. He just hasn't had to rely on it. And then Tony Ferguson obviously didn't shoot for a lot of takedowns. And because Justin Gates was getting the better of Tony Ferguson in the standard department, he didn't really have to showcase that. So I'm very curious to see how this wrestling head degree that he talks about, that everyone talks about, stands up to the best wrestling.

we've ever seen in MMA. Justin Gaci, his cardio is also off the charts. He took that fight against Tony Fers, I'm very short notice. I was there sitting Octagon side for when Justin Gage beat 21st. It looks like you could have gone four or five more rounds. He was ready to go.

So I think Justin Gagchi in terms of you're trying to build a fighter that has the tools to beat Habib, I'm not saying he can beat Habib, or he will. If you're molding a fighter that has the tools necessary, and that's cardio, durability, wrestling, heavy hands, good striking, phenomenal cornermen. Justin Gage checks all of those boxes. Now, of course, I favor Habib, but everyone at 155 pounds, even most of them in 170 pounds,

I would favor Habib, but I think Justin Gage is one of those fighters that could really give the braiding champion a problem. You said this is the boat you've been looking forward to the most. You're highly anticipated fight of the year. When you look at some of the bouts that have been booked, for 2020 in this year of chaos and this year of adapting to crazy situations. Anticipation aside, is this the biggest fight of the year that's been announced at this point? That's tough.

Announced, I think it's between that, the trilogy between D.C. Steepa and then, of course, the Israel-Aisina and the Apollo Kastafi. But I think the world is going to be much more interested in this. Habib is a international superstar. I believe he's what the most followed athlete in all of Russia on social media. Justin Gachie is, of course, one of those fan-friendly fighters that, A, I've talked to fans who are just terrified watching the fight. They're like, I can't believe you watch this. But it's like they're watching a car wreck.

It can't turn away. So if you're talking about a fight that is going to capture the minds and the imagination of the world, this is the fight. Yes, Israel-Sanian Paul Kost is going to be unbelievable in the bad blood. It's going to be a phenomenal fight. D.C. St. P. is for the greatest heavy way in UFC history. in terms of what will just, like, is going to make headlines across the globe, I think it's Abe just engaging. I kind of hope, and this is me just sort of being selfish and being a fight fan and just wants

to see this fight for what it is, I kind of hope they limit the media availability for these guys, at least for Habib heading into this fight, because you know what the whole fight week build is going to be like. It's going to be questions about his dad and how he's dealt with all that. And there are some things that I just wish that these fighters could just have to themselves and deal with it in their own ways. So I kind of wish, in a way, we could just limit the media and just have these guys fight. But I don't think that's going to happen.

But you're favoring Habib. I'm favoring Habib, but anything can happen in this wild sport. Do you have like an early prediction on how this plays out, like Habib by blank? I would have to, it's tough to say. Justin Gage is one of those guys that's Killer Be Killed. All of his, his only losses have been very violent stoppages to Dustin Porte and Eddie Alvarez. And lately Habeeves been submitting guys and Justin Gage's been submitting guys, or finishing guys, I should say. So it's, man, I don't, I want to say this won't be a decision.

But when I say decision, I don't mean it's because one guy is going to fade or get knocked out. I just think these guys are finishers. I can't imagine these guys reaching a decision for especially five rounds. If there's a three-round fight, maybe a decision. I can't see this going five rounds. but I have no idea who's going to win. I obviously, if I had to put money on, Habib, by maybe submission,

maybe just gets on top and chokes them out, and it's just a, like, we've talked about on the 8 side. We talked about it with Dean Thomas. MMA, at this point, when you are the two best fighters in the world in your weight class, at any weight class, it doesn't come down to who has the better skill set,

who has a better cardio, who has the better corner. That's not what it comes down to. The biggest factor is who makes the first mistake. And I think that's what's going to come out to. So these guys are by far the two passes of 155 pounds. I don't, I think they've been around this sport long enough that they know what they're going to do and they know how they're going to do it. And they're going to do it phenomenal.

So whoever makes the first mistake, the other one in the capitalized and finish the fight. So I obviously, I would favor Habib, but it's got this fight is absolutely unbelievable. It's such an awesome fight. And it's happening. And it's happening a lot sooner than I could have expected to happen. Habib Nurmaghameda versus Justin Gaci for the undisputed UFC lightweight title, October 24th. location TBD, you'd have to assume this is going to happen in Abu Dhabi, but we will keep you posted on that via MMAFighting.com. I'm sure more on this will be discussed in the A side tomorrow, Jose. I see you have a

special guest lined up. Can we reveal that information? Well, allegedly, it's supposed to be Sarah Kaufman. So barring any unforeseeable changes, Sarah Kaufman, PFL fighter, former UFC, former Strike Force, and all of that will be joining us on the A side again. Excellent. There you go. Thanks for watching and listening everybody for Jose Young's. I am Mike Keck. Get ready. ready for a barn burner on October 24th.