d-d-d-dAz Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 The only person I give a real chance against Khabib is Tony Ferguson. Ferguson got dropped against Pettis, whatever, but if he can lock into his groove of constant pressure and constantly pushes Khabib back onto his heels, he may have a chance of taking the power away from Khabib's shots. We've never really seen Khabib fight off the back foot, he always gets into his marauder mode. That said, i'm still picking Khabib. I could see a world where he beckons Ferguson on, makes sure the distance is closed and clinches up and takes it down. The route to beating Khabib was always through striking, and yet the drastic improvements of his head and body positioning against Conor suggests that route has now been bricked the fuck up. There's no one else in the world of combat sports right now with such few holes in their armour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 1 minute ago, d-d-d-dAz said: The route to beating Khabib was always through striking, and yet the drastic improvements of his head and body positioning against Conor suggests that route has now been bricked the fuck up. There's no one else in the world of combat sports right now with such few holes in their armour. Not to mention the fact that Saturday's fight confirmed what most people thought. His chin is made of granite. He took some solid fucking shots and made Conor look like he had pillow hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 I appreciate there are very few routes to beating Nurmagomedov, but I don't buy that striking is the only route. Whilst it'd be difficult to get a sub against him, I'd be intrigued to see how well an elite submission fighter would do. Very few people would beat him anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 Khabib/Gaethje is another i would love to see. Gaethje may be the best wrestler in the division and could potentially be the only guy to keep Khabib from taking him down. That fight would be insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 2 minutes ago, Carbomb said: I appreciate there are very few routes to beating Nurmagomedov, but I don't buy that striking is the only route. Whilst it'd be difficult to get a sub against him, I'd be intrigued to see how well an elite submission fighter would do. Very few people would beat him anyway. I'm a huge fan of submission grappling, but sadly that game tends to go out the window when you're looking to transition and find someone smacking their elbow against your dome, or punching you in the ribs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 2 minutes ago, David said: I'm a huge fan of submission grappling, but sadly that game tends to go out the window when you're looking to transition and find someone smacking their elbow against your dome, or punching you in the ribs. I'm sure, but surely submission grapplers will take this into account when training for MMA, and elite ones would develop counter-tactics to neutralise or at least minimise this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 There's only so much that you can do though. If you're grappling with someone and your main tactic isn't to either defend and get back up, forcing your opponent to try and hold you down, or to attack with fists and elbows forcing them to defend, you're basically providing them with opportunity to attack you with strikes. It's not a coincidence that the majority of subs we see today are as a result of someone already being stunned by strikes beforehand. No grappler is really going straight to a submission attempt from nothing. If they do, they tend to pay the price. Maia is the only one I can think of, and even he eventually came up short. Khabib's ground game is such that there's no grappler out there who'd fancy going up against it. He uses the perfect blend of wrestling and striking. I've never seen anything like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 I can see Khabib v Ferguson going the same way as Sonnen v Silva 1, should Tony win. Ferguson seems to be pretty genius at setting up traps to strangle his opponent. All it takes on Khabib's part is a dip in concentration or some clever work from Tony and he's in bother. Unlike Conor, basically getting wrestle fucked for a few rounds makes sense for Tony. I think Eddie Bravo mentioned on a Rogan podcast that he sees a number of openings in Khabib's ground game, which are obviously not visible to ham and eggers like us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 5 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said: I can see Khabib v Ferguson going the same way as Sonnen v Silva 1, should Tony win. Ferguson seems to be pretty genius at setting up traps to strangle his opponent. All it takes on Khabib's part is a dip in concentration or some clever work from Tony and he's in bother. Unlike Conor, basically getting wrestle fucked for a few rounds makes sense for Tony. I think Eddie Bravo mentioned on a Rogan podcast that he sees a number of openings in Khabib's ground game, which are obviously not visible to ham and eggers like us. It's most definitely the toughest fight that Khabib could be matched in I think, and would be a fascinating watch. I hope we get that one next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Also worth remembering with Khabib that he’s conscious of every aspect of the transition. He manipulates his opponent, and positions himself, so that when he lands his takedowns he rarely ends up in even half guard. An elite submission guys first battle would be restoring half and then full guard before they can even think of their attacks. And from what I’ve seen, there’s not a gang of space to work with. He’s freaky strong and keeps everything smushed tight. Maybe there’s an opportunity if you can sink something in during the sprawl, but even when he fails takedowns he’s pretty slick at restoring position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Jon Jones Vs Alexander Gustafsson has been announced for UFC 232 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 Interim LHW belt, or 'Official' LHW champion? That's the Vegas card close to NYE isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 It will be for the official Light Heavyweight Title Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 10, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 10, 2018 17 minutes ago, WeeAl said: Interim LHW belt, or 'Official' LHW champion? That's the Vegas card close to NYE isn't it? Yeh its Dec 29th show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 36 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said: Jon Jones Vs Alexander Gustafsson has been announced for UFC 232 Get the fuck in. Team Gusty all the way. Even if I expect Jones to prevail as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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