Israel Adesanya has been warned he will struggle once he faces a fighter with the style of Khabib Nurmagomedov in the octagon.
The legendary former lightweight champion was always known for his incredible wrestling after coming from a sambo background in his native Dagestan. And he was able to use the threat of his takedowns and cage work to strike fear into opponents and leave them open for big shots, despite having relatively average technical striking abilities.
And former UFC star Tim Kennedy, who was known for fighting in what is now Adesanya's middleweight division, believes a style like that would be perfect to take down the Nigerian. The champion has never lost in the MMA cage at his preferred weight, but did struggle when he moved up to face Jan Blachowicz for the light-heavyweight belt last year.
