Justin Gaethje thinks you need a particular style to beat Tony Ferguson, and UFC lightweight Charles Oliveira isn’t up to task.
Gaethje stood in the pocket with Ferguson for four-and-a-half rounds and battered ‘El Cucuy’ to a pulp in the UFC 249 main event, but ‘The Highlight’ doesn’t think ‘Do Bronx’ will have the same level of success with his range-based striking on Dec. 12.
Speaking to The Schmo in a recent interview (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA), Gaethje explained what makes Ferguson such a tough matchup for a fighter like Oliveira, who holds the record for the most submission victories in the UFC (14).
“I don’t know, man. How intriguing. Tony coming back — I was talking about it earlier with some fighters and I think Tony’s going to win,” Gaethje said. “I think to do what I did against him, you have to fight a certain way. I don’t think Oliveira fights like that.
“I think his striking [technique] is similar to someone like Anthony Pettis who is on their heels a lot. So I think he’s going to have similar issues that Pettis had against Ferguson.”
UFC 256, which features Ferguson vs. Oliveira as the co-main event, takes place this Saturday, Dec. 12 at the UFC Apex Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.