Justin Gaethje said he's been training to cause 'massive damage' to Khabib Nurmagomedov's brain in their Fight Island battle
- Justin Gaethje said that he is adopting "a kill or be killed" mentality heading into Saturday's UFC 254 main event against Khabib Nurmagomedov.
- The American striker said he does not want to literally kill his opponent, the lightweight champion Nurmagomedov, but said he will be looking to cause considerable damage.
- "I want to cause massive damage to his body and his brain," Gaethje said.
- It follows comments a couple months ago when Gaethje said he wants to "represent death" whenever Nurmagomedov encroaches into a certain zone surrounding him.
FIGHT ISLAND — Justin Gaethje said he's been training to cause "massive damage" to Khabib Nurmagomedov's brain.
Gaethje and Nurmagomedov headline the highly-anticipated UFC 254 event which serves as the finale for the lead mixed martial arts company's final show in its second pandemic-era residency on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
After Gaethje shook up the fight world with a thumping fifth round stoppage win over Tony Ferguson in May, there is great momentum heading into Saturday's showdown, and he is viewed within the industry as Nurmagomedov's toughest test to date.
"I can't allow myself to think that," Gaethje told Yahoo Sports combat correspondent Kevin Iole when asked if he is starting to feel like he belongs at the very top of the sport. After beating Ferguson, Gaethje extended his record to 24 wins and zero losses, with 19 knockouts.
"The way I fight, I've been telling myself every day that Khabib is going to make me look like a b----. And that he's going to take my life from me. That's how I do it. That's how I get ready for occasions like this."
Gaethje said he had the same mentality heading into May's lightweight fight against Tony Ferguson — a bout in which he performed to the best of his abilities to date, dominating Ferguson, and stopping in in the fifth round.
"I told myself Tony was going to make me look like that. He's going to embarrass me. And I went out there and do what I did," said Gaethje.
'I want to cause massive damage to his body and his brain'
Gaethje has a background in collegiate wrestling which he uses as defense rather than attack, and focuses his offense largely on his striking versatility.
It pits one distinctive style against another as Nurmagomedov is renowned for dragging opponents down to the mat and then pounding them until they lose the will to fight.
On the nuances of where the fight can be won and lost on Saturday at the behind-closed-doors Flash Forum venue on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, Gaethje said the best space for him to occupy would be in the center of the Octagon.
"I can't be on the fence," he told Yahoo Sports. "The man is impossible to beat if you're riding your ass on the fence, so that's not where I will be.
"I've got to be in the middle of the cage and create damage. He will be in danger for 25 minutes and I will not go out like a b----, I promise you that."
It follows the American's past comments in August where he said his main intention is to "represent death" against Nurmagomedov.
"There's gonna be a zone in front of me, it's not very big, and I have to represent death every time he enters this zone," Gaethje said. "That's what I'm the best at, creating carnage, creating car crashes."
Speaking this week, Gaethje added: "I'm not scared to wrestle with him, I've wrestled my whole life. It's kill or be killed for me … this is war.
"I don't want to [literally] kill him, but I want to cause massive damage to his body and his brain. I want to show that he is human," Gaethje said.
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