Khabib Nurmagomedov is widely considered one of the greatest fighters of all-time, but it turns out he also deserves credit as a master strategist.
Back in 2019, the undefeated Russian was preparing for the second defense of his UFC lightweight title with a showdown against interim champion Dustin Poirier. At the time, Poirier was undefeated in six consecutive fights, which included notable wins over Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez, and Max Holloway.
While he’s best known as a lethal striker, Poirier also employs an impressive ground game when necessary, but his go-to submission has always been the guillotine choke. Despite never actually finishing an opponent in a professional bout with it, Poirier stays committed to the guillotine choke — and Nurmagomedov knew that fact heading into UFC 242.
“It was all my training camp when I’m going to try to take him down, his right hand guillotine is very good,” Nurmagomedov explained on the Inspire Me podcast. “He always try this. Not left hand — right hand. Because he’s a southpaw, he takes with right hand and he moves his hips. I know because I’m orthodox with [my] right hand but I like to choke people with left hand. I knew he was going to try to choke me with [his] right hand.
“First time I [gave it to him], he don’t take. The second time when he take this, I let him choke me, he goes to maximum, I changed my body. I came back, I [gave it to] him because I tried to make him tired.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov reveals ‘it was my plan’ to make Dustin Poirier go for guillotine to set up finish - MMA Fighting
