Former Bellator middleweight champion, Alexander Shlemenko, commented on the statement of Oleg Taktarov, who called the unification fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaitji a negotiated one.
“When the battles are too easy, and the wait was greater, then many people begin to think that this is an agreement,” – said “Storm” in an interview with Alexander Lyutikov. “Khabib went forward very strongly in this battle. He approached, despite the blows, and it seemed to me that even if he wanted to hit hard, Khabib would not let him open up to the end – he went to the blow, and caught the blow at the beginning, not at the end. If you approach each other in the initial phase of the strike, or in the middle, then it is not difficult to hold such a strike, and Khabib saw all of Gaichi’s strikes. There were no moments where he did not see the blows, and when you see all the blows, it is difficult to knock you out “.
Shlemenko sees nothing strange in the fact that Gaizhi’s punches were not as destructive as one might expect.
“If we compare the contractual fight of Taktarov with that of Khabib, then there were no blows at all – the opponent immediately threw himself at his feet. If here Geytzhi immediately threw himself at his feet, and Khabib strangled him, then this would be obvious. I don’t know about punches, but the low kicks were sensitive. And when you hit a hard low kick, and then you still want to hit hard with your hand, it’s unrealistic. The pause should be very long. In the episode, you can show with your hand to come up, divert attention from your leg so that you are not transferred – this is natural. You can’t land a hard punch and a hard low kick. “
Another compelling argument in favor of the fact that the fight was fair, Shlemenko considers the absence of a clear benefit for the American.
“In my opinion, the fight does not look like a contract. You need to look at the benefits. How does Gaichi benefit from this? What is his motivation to negotiate a fight? Great love for Khabib? What was at stake? He could write the first defeat for Khabib. Like Matt Serra, who beat George St. Pierre when no one bet on him. Until now, he is mostly remembered because of this, and will always be remembered. Here the same moment could be “
Recall that the title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaitji, which became the main event of UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi, ended in the second round with the victory of the Russian fighter by triangle choke.
