The UFC promotion has officially announced that Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje will replace Khabib Nurmagomedov in a fight with Tony “El Cucuy“Ferguson at the UFC 249. The show will be held on April 18. It isn’t clear where that will happen (the most recent data is a private island). The reason for the failure of the fight between Khabib and Tony is that the Russian fighter, according to him, cannot leave Russia due to the temporary suspension of flights with other countries. Read our thoughts about this interesting and exciting MMA fight Justin Gaethje vs Tony Fergusen here below.

Justin Gaethje

Gaethje is an uncomfortable rival for Ferguson, he has been involved in wrestling from an early age. Justin achieved serious success at the youth level. But the American prefers to fight in MMA exclusively in the standing position. And loses, and wins exclusively in knuckle exchanges, however, he wins much more often. At the moment, Gaethje is the fourth number of lightweight with a series of three early victories (all in the first rounds).

Justin is fine in fighting full distance of 3 rounds, however, we have never seen him in a title shot of 5 rounds, so his stamina is quite questionable. As it’s said, he has knocked out 3 last rivals: Donald Cerrone at the 5th minute of the 1st round, Edson Barboza at 3rd minute of the 1st round and James Vick – 2nd minute, so there no reason to think that he is not planning to do the same with El Cucuy. Maybe that is the answer why he got 7 bonuses per 6 fights in UFC (!!!).

Tony Fergusen

All we know that Tony Ferguson is preparing for this evening not the first month. Yes, when a fighter agrees to a substitution a week before the fight, it is psychologically easier for him, however Tony should be at the top form ever. No one ever knows his game plan, because of his unpredictable style of fighting and Tony is always trying to fight in the standing position, especially now knowing that Gaethje was a member of the All-American team of Wresting.

Tony is already 36 years old, his stamina is one of the top ones in the whole division, so it should be his advantage. His hands length is an advantage as well, so he will try to hold Justin on the distance, till Gaethje will be out of his stamina and knocking power. Then the plan will be simple as that – finish his opponent. The only disadvantage of Tony is his chin, so he should avoid strong punches into it, otherwise he is in a safe position