After watching Khabib tonight

[La Paix]

I think there are question marks around McGregor's physical state that complicate the situation at this point. It's fairly clear he has been enjoying his recreational activities over the past couple of years, and personally I think that we have already seen the results of this with the conditioning issues he has shown in recent fights.

However, assuming McGregor makes it to the cage in something close to peak physical condition I would fancy him to win this fight for a couple of main reasons:

1) In a general sense McGregor has proven himself to be an elite level fighter while Khabib has never really fought anyone at the very top level. RDA is his best win but I think RDA improved dramatically after that fight. Barboza was well ranked when they fought but I don't think you could consider him elite. Outside of that he hasn't really fought anyone. I think McGregor is a major step up in talent and has proved he can operate at a level that Khabib just hasn't fought at to date.

2) There seems to be an impression that Khabib's fights hit the ground immediately and stay there but this is just not the case. While obviously he has a very strong takedown game, it isn't absolutely untouchable and his takedowns stats reflect that. When you actually look back through his fights, he spends more time in striking exchanges than people seem to realise. I think McGregor's grappling is underrated, but more than that I feel like his distance management could keep this fight standing long enough for McGregor to capitalise on the MASSIVE striking disparity. I think the Alvarez fight is a clear blueprint here. Ultimately, I am 100% convinced that if a fight between McGregor and Khabib stayed standing for as long as all of Khabib's recent fights have it would end in a McGregor KO or TKO almost every time.

Khabib's route to victory is obvious, and there are major question marks around McGregor's lifestyle and its affect upon his physical condition, but if he showed up in shape I would pick McGregor to win. I also think Max would beat Khabib and I would love to see that fight made in the near future.

Welcome to the forums, solid first post.

 

[SensoriaUtopia]

I think there are question marks around McGregor's physical state that complicate the situation at this point. It's fairly clear he has been enjoying his recreational activities over the past couple of years, and personally I think that we have already seen the results of this with the conditioning issues he has shown in recent fights.

However, assuming McGregor makes it to the cage in something close to peak physical condition I would fancy him to win this fight for a couple of main reasons:

1) In a general sense McGregor has proven himself to be an elite level fighter while Khabib has never really fought anyone at the very top level. RDA is his best win but I think RDA improved dramatically after that fight. Barboza was well ranked when they fought but I don't think you could consider him elite. Outside of that he hasn't really fought anyone. I think McGregor is a major step up in talent and has proved he can operate at a level that Khabib just hasn't fought at to date.

2) There seems to be an impression that Khabib's fights hit the ground immediately and stay there but this is just not the case. While obviously he has a very strong takedown game, it isn't absolutely untouchable and his takedowns stats reflect that. When you actually look back through his fights, he spends more time in striking exchanges than people seem to realise. I think McGregor's grappling is underrated, but more than that I feel like his distance management could keep this fight standing long enough for McGregor to capitalise on the MASSIVE striking disparity. I think the Alvarez fight is a clear blueprint here. Ultimately, I am 100% convinced that if a fight between McGregor and Khabib stayed standing for as long as all of Khabib's recent fights have it would end in a McGregor KO or TKO almost every time.

Khabib's route to victory is obvious, and there are major question marks around McGregor's lifestyle and its affect upon his physical condition, but if he showed up in shape I would pick McGregor to win. I also think Max would beat Khabib and I would love to see that fight made in the near future.

Your post is really weird, Conor has proven himself to be an elite fighter but Khabib has not fought anyone at the very top level to you. what the fuck LOL

Conor's run at lw is 3 fights, a great win over Eddie than a bad loss to Nate and a rematch which was a draw more than anything

Khabib dominated RDA< lol at sayhing he was not as good then, dominated Barboza like no one ever has, Barboza is a tougher fighter right now than Eddie.

Dominate Michael Johnson and AL, two A levecl fighters. I dont care what condition Conor shows up in, he has zero for Khabib outside of a geting some ko punch in the opening seconds which is doubtful.

Weird analysis

 

[Andrewsimar Palhardass]

Easy, he goes in and grabs him and takes his overrated ass down. At best Conor will get a glancing shot, at best. You are funny. Explain to us how Conor will keep it on the feet. All you have is the first 10 seconds, hoping Conor can land. Conor has no where near the TDD of Barboza, Johnson or Iaquinta and Khabib took those guys down with ease.

Your fight IQ is pretty fucking bad if you think Conor has a good chance against Khabib to be honest. Please stay strong in your view and please convince others to think like you, this way I can make a lot of money if Conor ever fights him, which I doubt.

Conor pulled that stunt on purpose to get a suspension from a commision to avoid the fight so he could sit back and lie about what he woudl have done.

Conor has nothing for Khabib, easiest fight for Khabib since Darrel Horcher. Please have strong persuasion skills and convince others of your thinking lol.

This is such an MMA forum opinion. Haha relaaaaaax.

 

[AJSR]

Your post is really weird, Conor has proven himself to be an elite fighter but Khabib has not fought anyone at the very top level to you. what the fuck LOL

Conor's run at lw is 3 fights, a great win over Eddie than a bad loss to Nate and a rematch which was a draw more than anything

Khabib dominated RDA< lol at sayhing he was not as good then, dominated Barboza like no one ever has, Barboza is a tougher fighter right now than Eddie.

I'll happily concede that there is an argument the RDA win was elite, but I don't think so personally. RDA was ranked around 10 at that time and I'm hardly alone in seeing a drastic improvement in him after that fight that a lot of people attribute to him working with Nick Curson.

Barboza is a solid fighter but he is not elite.

Dominate Michael Johnson and AL, two A levecl fighters. I dont care what condition Conor shows up in, he has zero for Khabib outside of a geting some ko punch in the opening seconds which is doubtful.

There is no way in hell Johnson and Iaquinta are A level fighters. Johnson is 1-5 in his last six, and Iaquinta is a fringe top ten fighter.

You are completely welcome to your opinion that McGregor has nothing for Khabib. I disagree for the reasons I previously outlined. Hope we get to see it soon.

 

[La Paix]

I'll happily concede that there is an argument the RDA win was elite, but I don't think so personally. RDA was ranked around 10 at that time and I'm hardly alone in seeing a drastic improvement in him after that fight that a lot of people attribute to him working with Nick Curson.

Barboza is a solid fighter but he is not elite.



There is no way in hell Johnson and Iaquinta are A level fighters. Johnson is 1-5 in his last six, and Iaquinta is a fringe top ten fighter.

You are completely welcome to your opinion that McGregor has nothing for Khabib. I disagree for the reasons I previously outlined. Hope we get to see it soon.

As @Joemacka pointed out earlier Guida, Tyson Griffin and Tibai also beat RDA around the same time. The RDA we see now is a completely different fighter than he was against Khabib.

 

[SensoriaUtopia]

I'll happily concede that there is an argument the RDA win was elite, but I don't think so personally. RDA was ranked around 10 at that time and I'm hardly alone in seeing a drastic improvement in him after that fight that a lot of people attribute to him working with Nick Curson.

Barboza is a solid fighter but he is not elite.



There is no way in hell Johnson and Iaquinta are A level fighters. Johnson is 1-5 in his last six, and Iaquinta is a fringe top ten fighter.

You are completely welcome to your opinion that McGregor has nothing for Khabib. I disagree for the reasons I previously outlined. Hope we get to see it soon.

RDA is and always has been elite, did he get better, probably but he has been elite for 6 years or more. Barboza is not just a good win, LW is the deepest weightclass in the sport and the guy is a top 5 guy for 3 years now, that is a huge win and no one has ever dominated Barboza that way.

Michael Johnson if he is not A level he is B+, you list his record but you dont list who he fought he also beat T Ferg

Al Iaquinta is a no brainer A level fighter, came in on a 5 fight win streak, against very good comp and has very good wrestling and boxing

A level easily

Khabib beats Conor easy, Conor will do well against striker only types, even then not so well, he still can't oustrike Nate Diaz on a fight that is purely on the feet. But at least he can hang with nate. He can't hang with khabib, his only chance is landing a quick ko punch, that is it, what else can he do? Khabib takes everyone down, easily.

 

[AJSR]

RDA is and always has been elite, did he get better, probably but he has been elite for 6 years or more. Barboza is not just a good win, LW is the deepest weightclass in the sport and the guy is a top 5 guy for 3 years now, that is a huge win and no one has ever dominated Barboza that way.

Michael Johnson if he is not A level he is B+, you list his record but you dont list who he fought he also beat T Ferg

Al Iaquinta is a no brainer A level fighter, came in on a 5 fight win streak, against very good comp and has very good wrestling and boxing

A level easily

Khabib beats Conor easy, Conor will do well against striker only types, even then not so well, he still can't oustrike Nate Diaz on a fight that is purely on the feet. But at least he can hang with nate. He can't hang with khabib, his only chance is landing a quick ko punch, that is it, what else can he do? Khabib takes everyone down, easily.

I think you have a really, really loose definition of A level. I disagree with just about all of that, so we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[SensoriaUtopia]

I think you have a really, really loose definition of A level. I disagree with just about all of that, so we'll just have to wait and see.

What do you call A level?

LW is the deepest most talented division in the world, not just ufc. At heavyweight I would say only guys in the world top 15 are A level, at LW any guy in the top 40 world wise, I would say is A level.

A level does not mean you have to be top 10 or top 15 ranked, it means you are a bonafide top level fighter.

There are probably 25,000 guys or more fighting professionally in the world at each weightclass, fightmatrix has a top 500 rank for each weightclass, someone ranked top 20 in the world at LW like Al is not just an A level fighter, its an easy call to say A level.

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