Kayla Harrison is the only Judo Olympian from the USA to have won a Gold medal and she has actually won two gold medals. Now she’s baring her teeth. She was quoted saying the following:
“Am I gonna beat Khabib? I mean I think I would beat him in a Judo match. For sure, 100 percent. I would beat Khabib,” she said to TMZ.
Also according to his father he wanted Khabib to be a judo gold medallist! However Nurmagomedov is a two-time Combat Sambo World Champion and has not competed in judo that we know of.
US national team coach Jimmy Pedro was recently on the lex Fridman podcast where he was asked if Kayla could beat Khabib in a Judo match. To which he answered:
“I have trained with her and I’m a Judo Olympian. If you don’t go 100% against her, as a man, she will throw you.”
When pressed to answer the question:
“In a pure Judo match with no leg grabs, I believe she would win against Khabib. Unless he has a high level of Judo and could place in the Russian Judo nationals.”
Khabib famously isn’t too crazy about women fighting having said:
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