Justin Gaethje expects Tony Ferguson to return to the win column this weekend.
Ferguson meets Charles Oliveira in an intriguing lightweight encounter that will serve as the co-main event of UFC 256 on Saturday night.
It will be Ferguson’s first appearance since seeing his 12-fight winning streak snap at the hands of Justin Gaethje following a fifth-round TKO defeat at UFC 249 back in May.
Gaethje was the underdog going into that fight but managed to produce arguably his greatest performance inside the Octagon to come away with the win that earned him the UFC interim lightweight title.
As for whether “Do Bronx” can emulate him and do the same? Gaethje doesn’t believe that will be the case.
“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 told The Schmo in a recent interview. “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.”
Pettis, of course, managed to drop Ferguson in the second round of their UFC 229 meeting back in October 2018. However, that was the former champion’s only moment of success as he was pressured and overwhelmed by “El Cucuy” for the rest of the fight until he eventually had to quit due to a broken hand.
Oliveira will undoubtedly look to avoid that same fate.
You can watch the full interview below: