Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted October 8, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 8, 2018 Kavanagh said on Rogan that the plan for the Khabib fight was to basically get wrestlefucked for two rounds and hope Khabib gets tired after that. Christ. Thankfully he admits he made a tit of it, because they mainly trained takedowns and, well, because Khabib was never getting tired. "Anger is an energy" and that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chunk Posted October 8, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 8, 2018 38 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said: Kavanagh said on Rogan that the plan for the Khabib fight was to basically get wrestlefucked for two rounds and hope Khabib gets tired after that. Christ. Thankfully he admits he made a tit of it, because they mainly trained takedowns and, well, because Khabib was never getting tired. "Anger is an energy" and that. To be honest, if you consider that Conor has basically nothing to offer in terms of power in his hands ... there weren't a lot of other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted October 8, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 8, 2018 55 minutes ago, Egg Shen said: thought John Kavanaugh was going to be on Rogan today? Â Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted October 8, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 8, 2018 Well even Kavanagh disagrees with that now. Pointed out that he feels he went in looking to defend against Khabib rather than beat him. Although, I don't know if Conor can ever best Khabib. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 The thing is, I actually think Conor did okay on the ground. The difference between how he fared against Khabib and the guy who was taken down with ease by Chad Mendes was night and day. Early in the first he almost took Khabib's back and he initiated a few scrambles. He did far better than Barboza did I think, and he's a brown belt in BJJ under Ricardo Almeida. By that same token, I think Khabib did better on the feet than we all thought he could. Both guys showed improvement in the areas they're regarded as being weakest. That right hand he threw that dropped Conor in the 2nd? Man, that shot puts most guys away I think. He's bringing serious fucking power to the table. He also answered any questions about his chin. Conor caught him clean a few times and the mad bastard didn't even back up. I think that the days of Conor being considered a soft touch in the wrestling department are gone. Sure, he's no Ben Askren, but his defensive abilities seem to have reached a decent level, and against anyone not named Khabib he could be effective there. EDIT: Forgot to add, Conor also looked like he had far better endurance. He eventually got caught in a submission and tapped. it happens. He didn't gas out and look for a way out like he did against Nate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted October 8, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 8, 2018 Everyone probably (well, should anyway) agrees that McGregor isn't likely ever beating Khabib now. But you just watch, if the rematch ever gets made they'll no doubt find a way to convince themselves again that he's winning. It really is something else. They could book McGregor against the Crips AND Bloods and drop him right in the middle of South Central LA and you'd still get the same 'nah man, Conor's in their heads. All 200 of them. You can't count him out bro'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Chunk Posted October 8, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 8, 2018 16 minutes ago, David said: The thing is, I actually think Conor did okay on the ground. The difference between how he fared against Khabib and the guy who was taken down with ease by Chad Mendes was night and day. Early in the first he almost took Khabib's back and he initiated a few scrambles. He did far better than Barboza did I think, and he's a brown belt in BJJ under Ricardo Almeida. By that same token, I think Khabib did better on the feet than we all thought he could. Both guys showed improvement in the areas they're regarded as being weakest. That right hand he threw that dropped Conor in the 2nd? Man, that shot puts most guys away I think. He's bringing serious fucking power to the table. He also answered any questions about his chin. Conor caught him clean a few times and the mad bastard didn't even back up. I think that the days of Conor being considered a soft touch in the wrestling department are gone. Sure, he's no Ben Askren, but his defensive abilities seem to have reached a decent level, and against anyone not named Khabib he could be effective there. EDIT: Forgot to add, Conor also looked like he had far better endurance. He eventually got caught in a submission and tapped. it happens. He didn't gas out and look for a way out like he did against Nate. Very good points here. Agree with most of it. I'm not sure we've seen Khabib be effective with his hands enough to say he has "serious fucking power", though. Quote I think that the days of Conor being considered a soft touch in the wrestling department are gone. I also think the days of Conor being considered deadly powerful are gone too. I know you were making this point before the fight, David. His power just doesn't seem to have survived the journey to a heavier weight class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 4 minutes ago, Chunk said: Very good points here. Agree with most of it. I'm not sure we've seen Khabib be effective with his hands enough to say he has "serious fucking power", though. We've seen him drop a few people with single shots though now, haven't we? And Conor isn't glass-jawed, yet he got dropped as well. It seems to be a thing where wrestlers possess crazy power a lot of the time. Anyone 155lbs UFC fighter who saw that fight at the weekend won't be coming into a fight with Khabib thinking "just need to avoid his takedowns, he's a chump on the feet" anymore. In much the same way as beating Conor isn't just a case of getting a hold of him and watching him crumple to the deck like a Matalan suit. The McG who got manhandled early doors by Chad Mendes is gone, he's evolved way beyond that now I think. Hopefully we get to see that in a future fight against someone who's not a machine on the ground. 7 minutes ago, Chunk said: I also think the days of Conor being considered deadly powerful are gone too. I know you were making this point before the fight, David. His power just doesn't seem to have survived the journey to a heavier weight class. Yeah, as you mention, he never was deadly powerful, he was accurate and could throw combinations, and it worked against Alvarez at 155lbs, but the problem comes when he's facing dudes who are at the higher end of the weight and class spectrum. Khabib is a huge lightweight. He has to really cut to make the weight, and comes into the cage on fight night anywhere around 175lbs or so according to his camp. He's a big fucker, which I don't think was really mentioned by the media in the build up. I don't think Conor's shots are any less effective, I just think the guy on the receiving end has a decent beard and is big enough to absorb them and keep on coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted October 8, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 8, 2018 24 minutes ago, David said: I think that the days of Conor being considered a soft touch in the wrestling department are gone. Sure, he's no Ben Askren, but his defensive abilities seem to have reached a decent level, and against anyone not named Khabib he could be effective there. EDIT: Forgot to add, Conor also looked like he had far better endurance. He eventually got caught in a submission and tapped. it happens. He didn't gas out and look for a way out like he did against Nate. Yeah. I think those sorts of questions should have vanished after the Alvarez fight, where a stuffed most of the takedowns. However, he did very well in the 1st. On the cardio, Kavanagh said the plan was to basically use as little energy as possible while trying to nullify Khabib's attacks on the ground (which mostly worked). The idea being Khabib would be tired in the 3rd and Conor would have something left for the remainder. Of course, Khabib never got tired and was all action, so the plan was never going to work. Particularly because Conor's striking wasn't as sharp as it usually is (Khabib takes some credit for this too), which Kavanagh put down to Conor not fighting MMA for two years and spending too much of their fight camp doing grappling. It's an interesting listen.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 3 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said: Yeah. I think those sorts of questions should have vanished after the Alvarez fight, where a stuffed most of the takedowns. However, he did very well in the 1st. I don't really rate Alvarez as a top level grappler to be honest, and I thought he was pretty much drawn into a standup battle almost immediately. I was actually surprised at how Conor fared when Khabib got hold of him, he seemed like he was fairly active on the floor initially, scrambling and even looking as though he was trying to take his back. I bet Khabib was surprised by that. And when he was on the floor, he didn't just cave either, he was hand fighting, constantly moving and trying to improve position. I was impressed by both guys to be fair, I think they both looked serviceable in the areas they were deemed to be weakest, which throws up some interesting questions for future fights I think. In all seriousness, my dislike for Conor aside, I thought he did well in the fight. He lost to the greatest lightweight of all time in my opinion, and a top five pound for pound guy. No shame in that really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted October 9, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 9, 2018 He's probably the only fighter to take a round from Khabib in the UFC too. Depending on how you view the 3rd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted October 9, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 9, 2018 The press in Ireland really haven't been too favourable on MMA, McGregor and Khabib, following Saturday night. https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/10/8/17950326/sham-irish-newspapers-criticize-conor-mcgregor-khabib-nurmagomedov-ufc-229-credibility-of-mma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 9, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 9, 2018 55 minutes ago, ColinBollocks said: He's probably the only fighter to take a round from Khabib in the UFC too. Depending on how you view the 3rd. He did take the round, all 3 judges gave it to McGregor. A guy like Khabib can make up for deficiencies in his standup game by the threat of the takedown. Its the reason we've seen a poor striker like Demian Maia engage in many poor kickboxing heavy MMA fights over the years, if it was straight boxing or kickboxing Maia would get destroyed but because theres always the chance that a striking exchange can lead to the fight hitting the floor people fight him very cautiously and leads to him having better success on the feet than he should. Khabib is has that same thing going for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 1 hour ago, ColinBollocks said: He's probably the only fighter to take a round from Khabib in the UFC too. Depending on how you view the 3rd. Yeah, I gave him the 3rd. Although, I was more impressed by how Khabib fared in the standup if I'm honest, but it was definitely a McGregor round. 42 minutes ago, WeeAl said: The press in Ireland really haven't been too favourable on MMA, McGregor and Khabib, following Saturday night. A lot of that reads like sour grapes to me. You didn't see that kind of response when it was Conor going mental. I see the word "sham" being used a lot. The fight wasn't a sham, it just went over the top afterwards. On another note, interesting to see that Conor is now being called in front of the Commission as well because it's become apparent that he threw the first punch when Khabib's team got into the cage. Looks like it may be suspensions all-round, although I'd be surprised if Khabib's isn't longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted October 9, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted October 9, 2018 Yeh Conor wasn't as innocent in the whole fracas as it initially seemed. The official camera feed made it look that way though because they missed bits of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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