Israel Adesanya has been warned he will struggle once he faces a fighter with the style of Khabib Nurmagomedov in the octagon.
The legendary former lightweight champion was always known for his incredible wrestling after coming from a sambo background in his native Dagestan. And he was able to use the threat of his takedowns and cage work to strike fear into opponents and leave them open for big shots, despite having relatively average technical striking abilities.
And former UFC star Tim Kennedy, who was known for fighting in what is now Adesanya's middleweight division, believes a style like that would be perfect to take down the Nigerian. The champion has never lost in the MMA cage at his preferred weight, but did struggle when he moved up to face Jan Blachowicz for the light-heavyweight belt last year.
Adesanya comes from a kickboxing background, and showed the most obvious holes in his game yet when taking on the Polish powerhouse. But he returned successfully to his own division with dominant victories over Marvin Vettori and Robert Whittaker, two of the best middleweights in the world.
"I watched him fight and I was like, 'Oh I could hit him right now'," Kennedy said during a recent appearance on The Food Truck Diaries. "I could get inside, like stylistically it's a great match-up... He doesn't like to be in deep water, he likes to set the pace, he likes to control range. He really is good at that.
"Yoel Romero could have been the guy that put the pressure on him, picked some angles and messed with timing but he didn't. Instead Yoel decided to hang back and put on one of the worst championship fights ever.
"But the Khabib style where you don't know if I'm going to take you down, maybe I'm going to hit you with a big overhand right. As I change levels, maybe I'm going to come in and push up against the cage - nobody has done that to him.
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"Kelvin Gastelum did it a little bit, a great fight, but I watch him and I'm like 'I want to get in there.' Then I get on the mat and I'm reminded that I'm not as good as I thought I was, these young kids are just a different level."
Adesanya likely won't face that type of style this weekend when he headlines UFC 276 against Jared Cannonier in Las Vegas. The No.2-ranked contender is a more traditional striker, and is an underdog for their meeting.
The show's host Brendan Schaub did note that it's "easier said than done" to get inside with a fighter like Adesanya, who has won five world title bouts in the promotion. He has shown against the likes of Vettori or Derek Brunson that it's difficult to get him down and keep the fight there, particularly at middleweight.
