Eddie Alvarez says his style can beat Khabib Nurmagomedov

With news that Khabib Nurmagomedov is the champion of the UFC, and it is undisputed, there is a line of contenders already forming.  Dustin Poirier winning at UFC Glendale looked to leap frog Eddie Alvarez as the number one contender if Conor Mcgregor is going to remain sidelined, and if Tony Ferguson needs some time to recover from his recent surgery.

Talking to ES News, Eddie Alvarez gave some inside into a possible fight between him and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

“Styles Make Fights, I think if Khabib does not correct the mistake of sitting back with his chin back and going to the side, Conor’s going to put his lights out with that left hand pretty bad, pretty quickly. So he needs to correct that mistake and he needs to learn to relax in the pocket and know that he’s safe. Until he does that, he’s always in danger of getting beat by a guy with knockout power like Conor McGregor.”

“But Conor McGregor on his back, I don’t feel like he has a strong spirit for fighting on the ground,” Alvarez continued. “Some guys have a real strong spirit, they can stand up all day for five, ten rounds as long as they’re standing up but when it goes to the ground their spirit weakens.”

“I don’t think Conor has a strong enough spirit to be able to withstand Khabib’s ground attack over and over. So I’d have to give the edge to Khabib because I feel like there will be takedowns and Conor will not get up and I don’t know if he has the spirit to stay in the fight with a ground fight where Khabib is controlling fifteen to twenty minutes of a twenty-five minute fight. I’d have to give the edge to Khabib.”