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Cormier: “Khabib Chose Triangle Because He didn’t Want to Hurt Gaethje in Front of Parents”

Cormier: “Khabib Chose Triangle Because He didn’t Want to Hurt Gaethje in Front of Parents”

Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the best, if not the best fighter in the history of the UFC lightweight category.

On Saturday night, he defeated Justin Gaethje in a dominant way, by triangle submission in round 2 and defended the championship belt, reaching 29 victories and 0 defeats.

After the fight, he said that he was satisfied with the victory and that it was his last fight in his professional career.

He promised his mother that he would not longer fight without late father Abdulmanap by his side.

There was mutual respect between Justin Gaethje and Khabib so that is the main reason that the Dagestani fighter chose to finish the American with a triangle choke instead of his trademark ground and pound.

But according to close teammate Daniel Cormier, there was also another reason. He revealed the conversation he had with Khabib regarding the submission:

“He told me when he was watching the interviews over the course of the week, he saw that Justin said he would never tap. Justin would never tap. So when he was going to the submission, he said it’s his dad’s favorite submission. Getting to the mounted position, going to the armbar, going to the triangle.

“So when he got there, he was gonna do the armbar. But he had heard Justin all week saying he would never tap. And he didn’t want to hurt him in front of his parents. So he went to the triangle and just put him to sleep.

“He goes, ‘I didn’t want to hurt him in front of his parents, so I said I’m gonna go and put him in a triangle, and then if he goes to sleep, you go to sleep, you wake up, you’re fine,’”

He also chose a choke instead of an armlock because he didn’t want to break Gaethje’s arm:

“To be comfortable enough to think about this in the moment… that’s crazy,” he said. “He didn’t want to break his arm. Because if Justin’s not gonna tap, you have to break it. And he didn’t want to do that in front of his mom and dad.”

 

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