Coach: Why I don’t think Nurmagomedov will ever lose
Javier Mendez: “I don’t think he’s ever going to lose. He’s going to find whatever he needs to do to win, whether he does it my way or does it his way.”
American Kickboxing Academy head coach Javier Mendez appeared recently on the debut episode of the Eurobash podcast and talking about his fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov’s fight vs. Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 229.
I’m of the belief that Khabib’s mental strength is so strong that I personally feel that he’s never going to lose, I really don’t, said Mendez to host Niall McGrath, as transcribed by Peter Carroll for MMA Fighting. I don’t think he’s ever going to lose. He’s going to find whatever he needs to do to win, whether he does it my way or does it his way, he’s going to find a way to win and that’s just what he does.
Basically it’s just me and him, myself and Khabib. We go through the gameplan and I structure it. I’ve mostly been the one that structures all of the gameplans, except for with Daniel [Cormier], it’s myself and Bob Cook. I’ve been doing all the gameplans, the other coaches do a fantastic job and they fall into place where they’re needed, but the gameplan is usually always me.
The coach was asked if the emotion around the hand truck throwing incident could effect his fighter.
I’m not going to have to worry about keeping [Nurmagomedov] in check. He is so mentally strong that it’s not going to be an issue at all. Like I said, Conor is going to press his buttons, but it doesn’t matter. I believe Khabib is going to stay cool throughout the whole thing. He’s going to dish it out as good as he gets it, and trust me, Conor’s going to give it to him because Conor is master at playing the game. He’s going to find an equal mental sparring partner as well as physical. This fight is going to be mental and physical, outside the fight and inside the fight, they’re both going to fight for the advantages.
(15:00 min mark)
