“First One to Make a Mistake is Going to Pay” – Justin Gaethje Opens up on Game Plan Against Tony Ferguson

The UFC 249 main event will see Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje fight for the Interim Lightweight Championship. The winner, as per UFC President Dana White, will earn the right to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov to unify the titles. ‘The Highlight’ was not in the reckoning about a month back. However, he accepted the fight at brief notice and has a shot of a lifetime. We were all ears at the UFC 249 media call where the Lightweight contender spoke about his opponent.

Justin Gaethje is looking forward to fighting Tony Ferguson

“I mean. I don’t know. He fights a very particular style. I fight a very particular style. So I think there’s a lot of things that happen very early on in a fight and that’s who’s gonna fight the distance they wanna fight at who’s gonna fight at the pace they want. You know he’s gonna fight at his pace, but when I touch him he’s gonna go for takedowns or he’s going to give me space and I’ll be able to control everything.”

‘The Highlight’ remained neutral but highlighted his attributes as well as his opponents.

“So he’s very unpredictable and I’m looking forward to the challenge. You know we are the best athletes in the world as far as I’m concerned and we possess some great skills. I have a great coach. My mind will be sharp that night and at this level, you can’t make a mistake. First one to make a mistake is going to pay.”

With ‘El Cucuy’, it’s usually the opponent who makes a mistake as he is on an impressive 12 fight win streak. However, this opponent is no slouch. The last time ‘The Highlight’ did not have his hand raised in the Octagon was over 2 years back at UFC on Fox in the main event against Dustin Poirier.

The 4th ranked Lightweight fighter does have a healthy respect for his opponent. It will hold him in good stead as he attempts to prove experts right when they said ‘El Cucuy’ should not have accepted an Interim fight after a hard-earned title shot.

Will Tony Ferguson regret accepting the Justin Gaethje fight?