“Dog in the Underdog” Henry Cejudo favours Nate Diaz against Khamzat Chimaev despite gigantic odds against him
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Henry Cejudo- Nate Diaz
Henry Cejudo has picked a horse in the spectacle that will be Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev. The former two-division champion graced the world with his breakdown and prediction of how the controversial matchmaking might wind out to be. Cejudo posted it on his YouTube channel, an endeavor he has put the meticulous effort in since last year.
For UFC 279, a non-title bout between Nate and Khamzat will act as the 5-Round headliner. While this is a fight with two very well-known names, the matchmaking is questionable at best. Chimaev is a young prospect who was on his way to challenge for the title as soon as Leon Edwards had his shot. An undefeated fighter, he has a lot of years left in him.
On the contrary, Diaz is a veteran of the sport, who has only ever fought in high-level competition in the WEC-Pancrase-UFC and certainly has more mileage than most in his career. The 37-year-old is in fact in the final fight of his current UFC contract, suspecting many to believe that Nate simply accepted the mismatch to earn his freedom.
However grave the mismatch may be, Triple C believes there’s a factor many people are downplaying that may act as the unexpected decisive factor in the fight.
Henry Cejudo believes Nate Diaz’s experience will overcome the power of Khamzat Chimaev
Cejudo who relies heavily on his wrestling to make his will be done in the octagon recognizes everyone looking to do so. Similarly, he thinks Khamzat will be looking to heavily incorporate his wrestling against Nate.
“They’re literally running and they’re penetrating at the place, that’s why they’re able to get takedowns, they’ll literally run” said Cejudo explaining how guys like Belal Muhammad, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and even Chimaev are able to take down they’re opponents at will.
However Cejudo has a counter to that, which could help Diaz a lot. “Nate’s gonna have to just anticipate, he’s gonna get taken down, he’s gonna have to focus a lot more on his bottom so that eventually he’ll be able to scramble back up” said Cejudo summarising anticipation to be the key for Nate, he continued, “If Chimaev takes me down, I’m gonna fall down and catch my ankle to be able to swing through and get up back on my feet”
Cejudo explained how the two fighters stand in stark contrast to each other as Khamzat is someone who likes to wrestle and finish with submissions or ground and pound while Nate is a brawler in the classic sense. “I think the more he’s able to drag it out to the later rounds cause we saw that Khamzat does get tired, and the biggest thing in him is he doesn’t have the experience that Nate has” said Cejudo about Nate Diaz’s best chance in this fight.
“Even though Nate may be the underdog in this fight, don’t count that dog out, ” said Cejudo as he ended his prediction for the upcoming. Ing fight. Cejudo himself has been looking to re-enter competition but no willing challenger has yet stepped forward. He has hinted that he wishes to recapture his Bantamweight title, before moving on to featherweight in a bid to become the first triple champion in the UFC.
Also Read: 4 Times Nate Diaz beat insurmountable odds in thrilling fashion before Khamzat Chimaev
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Jerin Mathew
(713 Articles Published)