Connor vs Khabib the update after

[Phillyboi207]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Most everyone in mma are fairly decent strikers, know how to take a punch and defend themselves. Afterall, they train. Sure he's not Demian Maia on the feet he's a better striker than that, but he's not a great striker either and he's going against one. Like OPSPunk said, there are lvls to this thing and those lvls tend to show when a guy that's just decent goes against a guy thats elite.

Of course, in a straight up striking contest Conor starches Khabib. But this isnt a straight striking contest and I dont think for a second Khabib is afraid to get hit or cant take a punch.

Conor vs Mendes and Khabib vs Michael Johnson are likely the two best indicators of how this fight goes.



Look at how Khabib deals with a fast straight left from a southpaw. He still rolls with it and steps back to mitigate damage.



Also when under fire Khabib keeps his right hand near his chin ducks to his left.Conor’s straight left is amazing but other than that his striking isnt really that dangerous. If he ends up overcommiting like he usually does he’s going for a ride.

Connor wins this like 2/10 times.

It’s still possible because he does have that special KO power but Khabib has incredible coaches and there’s no way they arent prepared for the left.

Now if Connor has added some new boxing tools things will be very interesting

[OPSPunk]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Philly...

I am no Connnnor fan but I think you are underestimating his striking. It’s not just his left it’s everything he does to set up the left. From his kicks to his hand position to his footwork to his movement.

Khabib isn’t on that level. If he is standing for longer than 2 minutes in round 1 he might be in trouble. That said, I think khabib puts him on his *** within one minute. Or at least again the fence

[Phillyboi207]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Philly...

I am no Connnnor fan but I think you are underestimating his striking. It’s not just his left it’s everything he does to set up the left. From his kicks to his hand position to his footwork to his movement.

Khabib isn’t on that level. If he is standing for longer than 2 minutes in round 1 he might be in trouble. That said, I think khabib puts him on his *** within one minute. Or at least again the fence

I really dont think he does anything special to set it up. That’s what makes him so scary. He uses great pressure, has fantastic head movement, and damn near perfect distance management. But his left just flies effortlessly with a lot of power. His counter left specifically is what’s dangerous. He actually reaches for it a lot when not countering and I think that’ll get him in trouble vs Khabib.

The first couple of exchanges will be scary for Khabib but I fully expect things to go exactly like the Michael Johnson fight. Unless it turns out that Connor is a wizard on the ground.

[WarMMA]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Of course, in a straight up striking contest Conor starches Khabib. But this isnt a straight striking contest and I dont think for a second Khabib is afraid to get hit or cant take a punch.

Conor vs Mendes and Khabib vs Michael Johnson are likely the two best indicators of how this fight goes.



Look at how Khabib deals with a fast straight left from a southpaw. He still rolls with it and steps back to mitigate damage.



Also when under fire Khabib keeps his right hand near his chin ducks to his left.Conor’s straight left is amazing but other than that his striking isnt really that dangerous. If he ends up overcommiting like he usually does he’s going for a ride.

Connor wins this like 2/10 times.

It’s still possible because he does have that special KO power but Khabib has incredible coaches and there’s no way they arent prepared for the left.

Now if Connor has added some new boxing tools things will be very interesting

Good points and yh I know how Khabibs standup is. He has some defensive skills and his striking isn't garbage or anything. Not saying he can't take a shot, but he doesn't wanna play that game and go around testing his chin with an elite striker that has ko power like Conor. He needs to avoid letting that thing land as best he can and get the grappling going asap. Now i'll say this...when I saw that fight vs Johnson and saw Khabib roll with and take that shot in the gif, I said to myself Khabib may indeed have a good chin. If he really does, that's big problems for Conor as he depends heavily on his ability to put you away with the left. But this is the classic striker vs grappler match up. Khabib needs to grapple. It's gonna be interesting to see what their gameplan is, how Khabib is gonna deal with the threat of the left hand and how he's gonna try to get the fight to the mat against a guy that likes to counter strike.

[xtremeba1000]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Good points and yh I know how Khabibs standup is. He has some defensive skills and his striking isn't garbage or anything. Not saying he can't take a shot, but he doesn't wanna play that game and go around testing his chin with an elite striker that has ko power like Conor. He needs to avoid letting that thing land as best he can and get the grappling going asap. Now i'll say this...when I saw that fight vs Johnson and saw Khabib roll with and take that shot in the gif, I said to myself Khabib may indeed have a good chin. If he really does, that's big problems for Conor as he depends heavily on his ability to put you away with the left. But this is the classic striker vs grappler match up. Khabib needs to grapple. It's gonna be interesting to see what their gameplan is, how Khabib is gonna deal with the threat of the left hand and how he's gonna try to get the fight to the mat against a guy that likes to counter strike.

Exactly, people keep forgetting Conor could not KO Nate Diaz in 2 separate fights. We have not seen Khabibs chin tested but IF he happens to have a chin on the level of Diaz, Conor is in for a longgggg night.

[aholbert32]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Exactly, people keep forgetting Conor could not KO Nate Diaz in 2 separate fights. We have not seen Khabibs chin tested but IF he happens to have a chin on the level of Diaz, Conor is in for a longgggg night.

But assuming that Khabib has a Diaz level chin is likely a mistake. Diaz has been in the cage with some killers and has one KO loss. He has an otherwordly chin. Even with that said, Conor hurt him and knocked him down several times over those two fights.

[WarMMA]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

I really dont think he does anything special to set it up. That’s what makes him so scary. He uses great pressure, has fantastic head movement, and damn near perfect distance management. But his left just flies effortlessly with a lot of power. His counter left specifically is what’s dangerous. He actually reaches for it a lot when not countering and I think that’ll get him in trouble vs Khabib.

The first couple of exchanges will be scary for Khabib but I fully expect things to go exactly like the Michael Johnson fight. Unless it turns out that Connor is a wizard on the ground.

But the scary thing is Conor does do some special tricky things to set that left up. I'm not a fan of Conor as a person, but i'm a huge fan of him as a fighter and his fighting style. I've watched all his fights to a tee, even trying to incorperate some things into my own personal training. Aside from being counter ready at all times, Conor does little tricky things to try and get reactions out of you so he can counter you with his left. Things like grabbing your lead hand, pocking you with a strike from distance, ect. Dude is VERY tricky and its those things that make him such a dangerous counter striker. He's a guy that likes to bait and counter the opponent....thats like 80% of what he does and the rest is near perfect distance management like you said.

For example, look at these gifs. All this stuff is just a few examples of him trying to bait a reaction out of the opponent that he can counter with left hand...

1.Messing with the opponents lead hand: Conor does this alot and its to measure distance and bait the opponent into reacting with something. While he's doing this he's always counter ready. A few examples...

A First the Aldo ko. Watch the grabbing of the lead hand. The constant grabbing at Aldo's lead hand is only for him to measure distance and try and get Aldo to react with something. While he's doing that, he's waiting for a reaction out of you and he's ready to counter it. Aldo gave him exactly what he wanted. As soon as Aldo reacts, parry to straight left hand sleeps the former FW king and shocks the mma world.




B Another example of him messing with the opponents lead hand to try and bait a reaction out of them. See him grab at this guys lead hand and what does the guy do? Strike with the other hand smh. BIG mistake cuz Conor was waiting for the reaction and ready to counter it. Duck under to left hand sleeps this dude...




2.The Pull Counter: This one shows off Conor's elite boxing skill and is yet another tactic he uses to bait his opponent in. He probes with his lead hand to try and bait a reaction out of the opponent and if they react, he's ready to pull counter with the left hand.

Here you see him use it perfectly against Diaz. Probes with the jab hand, Diaz reacts and gets his strike pull countered...





Just a few examples of some stuff he does, but its these kind of things along with his ko power that make standing with him a dangerous game.

[Kingslayer04]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

But assuming that Khabib has a Diaz level chin is likely a mistake. Diaz has been in the cage with some killers and has one KO loss. He has an otherwordly chin. Even with that said, Conor hurt him and knocked him down several times over those two fights.

I was thinking of mentioning that, Conor dropping even Nate multiple times. All in all, it would be dumb for either fighter to go out of their way to try to prove ****.

[xtremeba1000]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

But assuming that Khabib has a Diaz level chin is likely a mistake. Diaz has been in the cage with some killers and has one KO loss. He has an otherwordly chin. Even with that said, Conor hurt him and knocked him down several times over those two fights.

Very true, I'm just saying it's a mystery about Khabibs chin and that SOME people can survive Conor's power and that is when Conor has issues. It really is a 50/50 fight. It's all about if Conor has worked on his cardio and take down defense and if Khabib has worked on his striking defense and figured out how to set up his shots specifically for Conor.

[WarMMA]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

But assuming that Khabib has a Diaz level chin is likely a mistake. Diaz has been in the cage with some killers and has one KO loss. He has an otherwordly chin. Even with that said, Conor hurt him and knocked him down several times over those two fights.

Yh. His chin is still a bit of a mystery, but the hit he took from Johnson shows he may just have a good one. That said, I agree with you...I don't think he needs to try and find that out against a puncher like Conor. Then again, he may have to if he can't get Conor down. Gonna be an interesting fight.

[Good Grappler]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Question for yall

Do you think Conor’s more capable of grappling with Khabib, or is Khabib more capable of striking with Conor?



I feel like both of these guys’ “weaknesses” are overblown.

I think Khabib COULD strike with almost anyone at LW aside from the top few guys, if he wanted to. He’s fast, has good footwork and distance control, has a hard head, and blocks well. People criticize his wild, chaotic punches... but that Sambo blitz is deceptively technical and effective. It works great for him because of his wrestling.

But even when he’s just strictly focused on striking, he’s very disciplined, measured and effective. It’s rare, but we got a glimpse of his pure striking against Al. Khabib was avoiding punches with his hands down, jabbed his face to pieces. When’s the last time Al Iaquinta got completely out struck for 5 rounds? I think if he decided to stop wrestling entirely, he’d still be able to stay in the top 10 with his striking alone.

I also think Conor is capable of grappling with nearly anyone in his weightclass, he just has the touch of death, so why bother. When he does grapple, he’s almost always in a winning position. Reversed a takedown attempt and tossed Brandao to the ground, easily mounted Denis Siver. Outgrappled Holloway on a whim. Shrugged off Alvarez. Etc etc

[WarMMA]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

Question for yall

Do you think Conor’s more capable of grappling with Khabib, or is Khabib more capable of striking with Conor?



I feel like both of these guys’ “weaknesses” are overblown.

I think Khabib COULD strike with almost anyone at LW aside from the top few guys, if he wanted to. He’s fast, has good footwork and distance control, has a hard head, and blocks well. People criticize his wild, chaotic punches... but that Sambo blitz is deceptively technical and effective. It works great for him because of his wrestling.

But even when he’s just strictly focused on striking, he’s very disciplined, measured and effective. It’s rare, but we got a glimpse of his pure striking against Al. for a while, as he did against Al, he looks very good. Khabib was avoiding punches with his hands down, jabbed his face to pieces. When’s the last time Al Iaquinta got completely out struck for 5 rounds? I think if he decided to stop wrestling entirely, he’d still be able to stay in the top 10 with his striking alone.

I also think Conor is capable of grappling with nearly anyone in his weightclass, he just has the touch of death, so why bother. When he does grapple, he’s almost always in a winning position. Reversed a takedown attempt and tossed Brandao to the ground, easily mounted Denis Siver. Outgrappled Holloway on a whim. Shrugged off Alvarez. Etc etc

Maybe a bit overblown, but not by much when both guys are so elite at their particular strengths. Khabib's striking we saw against Al? Yes he looked pretty good against Al. Against Conor though...all that jabbing and stuff? He'd get smoked doing that stuff against Conor. Conor would be waiting to land a counter left. As far as Conor's grappling, sure he looks pretty good when he's on top. It's when he's on bottom we're looking at and the one time we saw him there against mendes, he didn't look too good. If Khabib takes down that Conor and he looks like he did against Mendes on bottom, he's in for a rough night.

[Phillyboi207]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

@WarMMA

We may have different ideas of special

The hand fighting and feinting he does is normal.

His ability to capitilize on it with perfect distance, head movement, and angling is what’s special.

There are plenty of fighters that play the hand fighting game but how many of them turn it into a fight ending punch in a second?

I think his ability to do normal things remarkably well make him so dangerous because it’s easy for people to underestimate Conor especially on film

Edit: my bad lol, meant WarMMA.

[WarMMA]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

@OSPunk

We may have different ideas of special

The hand fighting and feinting his does is normal.

His ability to capitilize on it with perfect distancd, head movement, and angling is what’s special.

There are plenty of fighters that play the hand fighting game but how many of them turn it into a fight ending punch in a second?

I think his ability to do normal things remarkably well make him so dangerous because it’s easy for people to underestimate Conor especially on film

I think you're replying to my post? And yh I agree.

[OPSPunk]

Re: Connor vs Khabib the update after

@WarMMA

We may have different ideas of special

The hand fighting and feinting he does is normal.

His ability to capitilize on it with perfect distance, head movement, and angling is what’s special.

There are plenty of fighters that play the hand fighting game but how many of them turn it into a fight ending punch in a second?

I think his ability to do normal things remarkably well make him so dangerous because it’s easy for people to underestimate Conor especially on film

Edit: my bad lol, meant WarMMA.

What makes any fighter special isn’t one thing it’s how they put things together. When it comes to MMA striking. Connnnnor has put together a great strategy centered around delivering that big left hand.

The question that Connor hasn’t answered is if that game plan can deal with pressure. He can be overwhelmed with striking pressure (Diaz). But the pressure grappling can be suffocating.