Planet Rugby Forum

eugenefraxby wrote:Just a thought. Would MMA fans on here watch Bradley v Provodnikov and provide me with a comparable mixed code scrap that gets near it? I cannot gain comparable excitement/enjoyment much as I’ve tried since the open category era with Royce / Goodrich and so on. It’s a redundant combat spectacle now, one half decent opening all over, flawed format.

You may have to turn the sound down for this, tbf the fight is awesome from start to finish, but is not on youtube. Twas a good fast fight between two highly talented fighters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1IK8r9RCvY

bump

Flametop wrote:

The Native wrote:

Flametop wrote:Reckon McGregor will spark him next time.
It was always a bad match up for both of them.
Khabib was right about one thing, McGregor could use a good humbling. It will do him the world of good.

*cue training scene lifting trees in Russian snow, near log cabin, followed by fight in front of partisan crowd in Moscow*

Can't see it happening. Khabib has seen him off and will only be better prepared when/if there is a rematch. And McGregor is too lazy to address his weaknesses. Tony Ferguson would probably beat McGregor.

It depends on how much McGregor wants it.
He’s not really hungry any more, he has everything he has ever wanted.
That takes a huge edge off in the fight game where one mistake can cost.

His crucial mistake (and where Khabib did his homework) is that he is used to touching his smaller opponents with his right hand in order to gauge the distance, knowing that he is then in reach for the big left hand, while his opponent isn’t.
Khabib being bigger waited for McGregor to touch him and then immediately landed the game changing overhand right, using the touch to know he was also in range.

His crucial mistake is that he didn't train hard or well enough to counter or at least effectively combat Khabib's ground game. He also has dire cardio, by comparison, and the desire/motivation was lacking. But he's a tapper if he can't land a KO. Nate Diaz exposed that and Khabib proved it.

Gospel wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:Lance in cycling. Tiger in golf. Footballers screeching at refs. Loads of bad behaviour is let slide because those athletes bring in the big bucks. No one wants to stop the gravy train.

Bit unfair on Tiger Woods. Since when is it bad behaviour for sports stars to cheat on their wives?

Since sports stars get judged in the Court of Public Opinion, and it turns out that when your biggest star is caught serialy whoring, it hurts. Tiger's earning potential took a massive dive after that story broke https://www.thoughtco.com/tiger-woods-d ... rs-1566402 , and it wouldn't suprise me, given how powerful he was in golf, f the earnings of everyone on tour took a hit (I remember reading once that from the point that Tiger started to the point where it all went down hill, the winnings on offer rose dramatically, and that a significant proportion of that was down to Tiger Woods being involved in the game and directly attracting sponsors).

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Gospel wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:Lance in cycling. Tiger in golf. Footballers screeching at refs. Loads of bad behaviour is let slide because those athletes bring in the big bucks. No one wants to stop the gravy train.

Bit unfair on Tiger Woods. Since when is it bad behaviour for sports stars to cheat on their wives?

Since sports stars get judged in the Court of Public Opinion, and it turns out that when your biggest star is caught serialy whoring, it hurts. Tiger's earning potential took a massive dive after that story broke https://www.thoughtco.com/tiger-woods-d ... rs-1566402 , and it wouldn't suprise me, given how powerful he was in golf, f the earnings of everyone on tour took a hit (I remember reading once that from the point that Tiger started to the point where it all went down hill, the winnings on offer rose dramatically, and that a significant proportion of that was down to Tiger Woods being involved in the game and directly attracting sponsors).

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/tige ... ?r=US&IR=T

Here's that article. The point being that lots of people knew what he was up to, and knew that it would be a problem, but no one said anything because the money was still flowing. Obviously what someone like Lance did was worse, but it's a similar principle of the sports 'cash cow' being protected.

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Gospel wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:Lance in cycling. Tiger in golf. Footballers screeching at refs. Loads of bad behaviour is let slide because those athletes bring in the big bucks. No one wants to stop the gravy train.

Bit unfair on Tiger Woods. Since when is it bad behaviour for sports stars to cheat on their wives?

Since sports stars get judged in the Court of Public Opinion, and it turns out that when your biggest star is caught serialy whoring, it hurts. Tiger's earning potential took a massive dive after that story broke https://www.thoughtco.com/tiger-woods-d ... rs-1566402 , and it wouldn't suprise me, given how powerful he was in golf, f the earnings of everyone on tour took a hit (I remember reading once that from the point that Tiger started to the point where it all went down hill, the winnings on offer rose dramatically, and that a significant proportion of that was down to Tiger Woods being involved in the game and directly attracting sponsors).

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/tige ... ?r=US&IR=T

Here's that article. The point being that lots of people knew what he was up to, and knew that it would be a problem, but no one said anything because the money was still flowing. Obviously what someone like Lance did was worse, but it's a similar principle of the sports 'cash cow' being protected.

I get what you're saying but it's a harsh comparison. Tiger was cheating on his wife by banging lots of skanks and he was surrounded by enablers helping him cover it up. He wasn't cheating in the most abhorrent way at his chosen sport that was making him a multimillionaire like Lance Armstrong was.

Also, although it was a scam, Tiger tried to keep his private life totally out of the public view whereas Armstrong was constantly campaigning against drug cheating. The very crime he was committing. Armstrong's crime was much worse in my book. Hence the life ban and stripping of titles whereas Tiger has resumed his golf career with little impact on his game. Massive impact on his private life and public image obviously.

booji boy wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Gospel wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:Lance in cycling. Tiger in golf. Footballers screeching at refs. Loads of bad behaviour is let slide because those athletes bring in the big bucks. No one wants to stop the gravy train.

Bit unfair on Tiger Woods. Since when is it bad behaviour for sports stars to cheat on their wives?

Since sports stars get judged in the Court of Public Opinion, and it turns out that when your biggest star is caught serialy whoring, it hurts. Tiger's earning potential took a massive dive after that story broke https://www.thoughtco.com/tiger-woods-d ... rs-1566402 , and it wouldn't suprise me, given how powerful he was in golf, f the earnings of everyone on tour took a hit (I remember reading once that from the point that Tiger started to the point where it all went down hill, the winnings on offer rose dramatically, and that a significant proportion of that was down to Tiger Woods being involved in the game and directly attracting sponsors).

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/tige ... ?r=US&IR=T

Here's that article. The point being that lots of people knew what he was up to, and knew that it would be a problem, but no one said anything because the money was still flowing. Obviously what someone like Lance did was worse, but it's a similar principle of the sports 'cash cow' being protected.

I get what you're saying but it's a harsh comparison. Tiger was cheating on his wife by banging lots of skanks and he was surrounded by enablers helping him cover it up. He wasn't cheating in the most abhorrent way at his chosen sport that was making him a multimillionaire like Lance Armstrong was.

Also, although it was a scam, Tiger tried to keep his private life totally out of the public view whereas Armstrong was constantly campaigning against drug cheating. The very crime he was committing. Armstrong's crime was much worse in my book. Hence the life ban and stripping of titles whereas Tiger has resumed his golf career with little impact on his game. Massive impact on his private life and public image obviously.

Oh look, I totally agree that what Tiger did pales in comparison to what Lance did...but my basic point is, both of them would likely have been thrown under the bus a lot earlier if they hadn't been the top earners in their sports.

Jeff the Bear wrote:Oh look, I totally agree that what Tiger did pales in comparison to what Lance did...but my basic point is, both of them would likely have been thrown under the bus a lot earlier if they hadn't been the top earners in their sports.

Yep, I hear ya. Money talks!

Nice interview with Connors coach on JRE . Makes a decent comment re prize fighter vs a MMA on how they behave.

Rogan is in his element too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v8n6F57wT0

The Native wrote:

Flametop wrote:
It depends on how much McGregor wants it.
He’s not really hungry any more, he has everything he has ever wanted.
That takes a huge edge off in the fight game where one mistake can cost.

His crucial mistake (and where Khabib did his homework) is that he is used to touching his smaller opponents with his right hand in order to gauge the distance, knowing that he is then in reach for the big left hand, while his opponent isn’t.
Khabib being bigger waited for McGregor to touch him and then immediately landed the game changing overhand right, using the touch to know he was also in range.

His crucial mistake is that he didn't train hard or well enough to counter or at least effectively combat Khabib's ground game. He also has dire cardio, by comparison, and the desire/motivation was lacking. But he's a tapper if he can't land a KO. Nate Diaz exposed that and Khabib proved it.

I love how people want to make this all about McCregor.

It's all about if he wants it enough
His big mistake was not training hard enough

I will admit I can't say you are talking shit because unlike you I don't know how much he wanted it or how hard he trained. Unlike you I don't know his condition when he got in the cage.

What I do know is he said he trained hard. He said he was up for it.

He got comprehensively beat the fuck up

I know you guys don't want to accept it but sometimes a figher really wants something and trains really hard but just comes up against a better fighter and gets comprehensively beat the fuck up, Maybe that is what happened.

Go listen to the coach on JRE. Training too hard, too defensive etc are all discussed

kiwinoz wrote:Go listen to the coach on JRE. Training too hard, too defensive etc are all discussed

You cannot be serious. These excuses after the fight are laughable. Fighters are always in great shape before the fight and when they lose some always come out with the training excuses and some people lap it up. Go listen to the coach

Anonymous. wrote:

The Native wrote:

Flametop wrote:
It depends on how much McGregor wants it.
He’s not really hungry any more, he has everything he has ever wanted.
That takes a huge edge off in the fight game where one mistake can cost.

His crucial mistake (and where Khabib did his homework) is that he is used to touching his smaller opponents with his right hand in order to gauge the distance, knowing that he is then in reach for the big left hand, while his opponent isn’t.
Khabib being bigger waited for McGregor to touch him and then immediately landed the game changing overhand right, using the touch to know he was also in range.

His crucial mistake is that he didn't train hard or well enough to counter or at least effectively combat Khabib's ground game. He also has dire cardio, by comparison, and the desire/motivation was lacking. But he's a tapper if he can't land a KO. Nate Diaz exposed that and Khabib proved it.

I love how people want to make this all about McCregor.

It's all about if he wants it enough
His big mistake was not training hard enough

I will admit I can't say you are talking shit because unlike you I don't know how much he wanted it or how hard he trained. Unlike you I don't know his condition when he got in the cage.

What I do know is he said he trained hard. He said he was up for it.

He got comprehensively beat the fuck up

I know you guys don't want to accept it but sometimes a figher really wants something and trains really hard but just comes up against a better fighter and gets comprehensively beat the fuck up, Maybe that is what happened.

Let me clarify, I'm not defending him at all. I'm team Nurmagomedov. McGregor is a twat and I enjoyed him getting a complete beat down. His conditioning and ground skills were appalling as opposed to Khabib's which are outstanding. I'm not mad at that. Khabib is a far more well rounded fighter and I thought Conor was always going to lose but I anticipated it going the distance as I assumed McGregor would've improved his conditioning and his ground game. He didn't and got beat like a redheaded step child.

The Native wrote:

Anonymous. wrote:

The Native wrote:

Flametop wrote:
It depends on how much McGregor wants it.
He’s not really hungry any more, he has everything he has ever wanted.
That takes a huge edge off in the fight game where one mistake can cost.

His crucial mistake (and where Khabib did his homework) is that he is used to touching his smaller opponents with his right hand in order to gauge the distance, knowing that he is then in reach for the big left hand, while his opponent isn’t.
Khabib being bigger waited for McGregor to touch him and then immediately landed the game changing overhand right, using the touch to know he was also in range.

His crucial mistake is that he didn't train hard or well enough to counter or at least effectively combat Khabib's ground game. He also has dire cardio, by comparison, and the desire/motivation was lacking. But he's a tapper if he can't land a KO. Nate Diaz exposed that and Khabib proved it.

I love how people want to make this all about McCregor.

It's all about if he wants it enough
His big mistake was not training hard enough

I will admit I can't say you are talking shit because unlike you I don't know how much he wanted it or how hard he trained. Unlike you I don't know his condition when he got in the cage.

What I do know is he said he trained hard. He said he was up for it.

He got comprehensively beat the fuck up

I know you guys don't want to accept it but sometimes a figher really wants something and trains really hard but just comes up against a better fighter and gets comprehensively beat the fuck up, Maybe that is what happened.

Let me clarify, I'm not defending him at all. I'm team Nurmagomedov. McGregor is a twat and I enjoyed him getting a complete beat down. His conditioning and ground skills were appalling as opposed to Khabib's which are outstanding. I'm not mad at that. Khabib is a far more well rounded fighter and I thought Conor was always going to lose but I anticipated it going the distance as I assumed McGregor would've improved his conditioning and his ground game. He didn't and got beat like a redheaded step child.

I think you're just wrong on several levels. Firstly, Khabib is clearly not a more well-rounded figher. He's just an unstoppable mauler. His submission game is decent, his stand-up is poor and is stand-up defence is close to amateur, just his mauling, smothering, ground'n'pound skills are level ten-billion. On the other hand, McGregor's ground skills are far from appalling. McGregor is a very decent grappler, I think a jujitsu brown-belt from memory, which is no f-cking joke, he has he has one of the best take-down defences in the game, and if you know what you're looking at, he actually did fairly well defending Khabib on the ground - relatively speaking that is. He was repeatedly able to get his legs free and keep his head above his waist, and his guard was better than average, at least for portions of the fight, which is not what you expect from a striker and it's far better than many of Khabib's previous opponent's have managed, even renown wrestlers. Clearly Conor is not a renown wrestler and Khabib is a freak wrestler, but to say Conor's ground game is "appalling" is just wrong. In addition, Conor is also one of the best strikers in the UFC. All in all, Conor is clearly the more "well rounded" fighter. While Khabib was clearly the better fighter. That's only because Khabib's mauling wrestling skills is just on such a different level, nobody has figured it out yet. That doesn't make him "well rounded".

Next, Conor's conditioning was clearly improved, and Khabib's conditioning is nothing to write home about. Khabib has a habit of falling off in the later rounds and the Conor gameplan was clearly centered around that, and it was a sound gameplan, it just didn't work out for them on the night. Khabib has demonstrated in the past that his take-down success rate drops off sharply in the later rounds. Conor's plan was to play his stand up game when he could, and if/when he got taken down, then to just eat a 10-9 round and try and let Khabib wear himself out expending the least amount of energy, and taking the least amount of damage himself possible, then to start to unleash around round 3 or 4 where Khabib would (in theory) be sucking in big ones. That was the gameplan for Conor and he was doing it at-least moderately well until he got clocked with that over-hand right. That was the turning point in the fight. Not Khabib being well rounded, not Conor having appalling ground skills or appalling conditioning.

I was predicting a Khabib win all along. I'm not a huge fan of Conor's trash-talking, but I don't mind it either. It used to be funny. Lately is become a bit more crass and witless. I was going for Khabib and I was glad he won, because I think he deserves to be recognized as the best in the world. Because he is. I would have though it an injustice if Conor flat-lined him with a "lucky" punch (which was very well within the realms of possibility). So I was going for Khabib, until after the fight. Assaulting corner-men and TeamKhabib hangers-on leaping into the ring and throwing haymakers, from behind at a well beaten opponent who just went four rounds with the death-mauler-of-Dagestan and maybe at the moment recovering from traumatic brain injury is just totally inexcusable in every way. I went from a Khabib fan to wishing Conor actually had knocked him out.

Mog The Almighty wrote: I think you're just wrong on several levels.

Mog The Almighty wrote: Khabib's conditioning is nothing to write home about

Chael Sonnon says Khabib's conditioning is absolutely awesome and Mog knows shit

kiwinoz wrote:

Mog The Almighty wrote: I think you're just wrong on several levels.

Mog The Almighty wrote: Khabib's conditioning is nothing to write home about

Chael Sonnon says Khabib's conditioning is absolutely awesome and Mog knows shit

Chael Sonnon is an attention seeking mong with an IQ of about 55. You could fill up a ten-thousand page thread with "dumb shit Chael Sonnon" said.

I said his conditioning is nothing to write home about, not that it was terrible. And it's all relative. Obviously all of them have phenomenal conditioning compared to your average guy. But the stats don't lie. Watch the Al Iaquinta fight. It's just a fact of reality that his take down success drops sharply the longer the fight goes on. That's what the statistics show no matter what Chael Sonnon rants about on YouTube.

GAA heads are on thin ice talking about sports for dumbasses.

Armchair_Superstar wrote:GAA heads are on thin ice talking about sports for dumbasses.

Hurling is the best game on the planet. Just because it's played by your foes on the other side of the fence in your neck of the woods doesn't make it a game for dumbasses

By the way agree completely with Eamon Sweeney.

I really hope there is a rematch within the next 12 months so Khabib can finish Conor’s career for good.

Leinsterman wrote:GOOD ARTICLE BY EAMONN SWEENEY

Thought it was a bit shite myself.

Yes, Conor is a brash, loud mouth, in a combat sport.
Mohammed Ali also was an incredibly poor sport and highly disrespectful and gown right insulting to his opponents yet his lauded as one of the greatest sportsmen ever,
even though Tyson would have taken his head off in both their primes.

Trash talking in MMA is the equivalent of bigging up weak opposition in rugby.
Both inane, just for different reasons.

Leinsterman wrote:GOOD ARTICLE BY EAMONN SWEENEY

I just glanced at it, but it's a shit article imo. Firstly, you don't listen to fight analysis from a guy who looks like this:



The shit talk that Conor does has been part of the fight game going far back further in history than Muhammad Ali. Some guys do it, many don't. But it's not unusual. Acting like McGregor is the first guy to do it, or that he deserves to be "humiliated" (which he was not) is just dumb.They all do it to some extent. Conor is just exceptionally "good" at it (depending on your definition of "good") and, until recently, had a nasty habit of backing it up in spectacular fashion. Don't get me wrong, I don't like it. My favourite UFC figher is Rose Namajunas - and if you don't know who she is, or her history vs. shit-talking loud-mouths, and her opinions on it, it's well worth looking it up and looking up some of her press conferences. I don't like the shit talking, but to pretend it's something new, or that it's even remotely comparable to and/or excuses leaping into the crowd after a fight and actually physically assaulting a corner man, or for members of your hangers-on to leap into the ring and literally assault a defeated opponent from behind, that's just utterly ridiculous.

The dolly-throwing incident in the carppark at the buss, there is a point there. That is unacceptable also and I said at the time it was inexcusable scumbag behaviour. Just that door swings both ways. Two wrongs don't make a right. The other good point is that the UFC uses it as promotional material rather questionably.

Khabib, (type his second name a few times and you realise why everyone uses his first) said he'd been incensed by the way McGregor had talked before the fight. "I don't want people talk s**t about opponents, talk s**t about his father, religion. You cannot talk about religion, you cannot talk about nation."

But McGregor did talk about them.

"oooooh". How dare he.

Wrong, sorry mate. This isn't Dagestan and it isn't a Muslim theocracy. You can talk about whatever you f-cking well want. I'll tell you what Khabib can do about it if he doesn't like it - he can get in there and beat the shit out of him and say, "that's for talking shit about my family and religion". Fair play to him, that's his business. But the fact is that Khabib is a guest in that country. He doesn't get to go over and dictate to everyone there (and around the world) what is on and off limits when it comes to talking, and it doesn't excuse the totally inexcusable bullshit and criminal assault that went on after the fight.

The fact is they ALL shit talk. Khabib is just exceptionally thin-skinned and exceptionally good at exacting violent retribution for any perceived insult against him or his family/faith/country/whatever. But he went way too far. It should have stopped as soon as Conor tapped. Period.

Well that was predictable.

Leinsterman wrote:Well that was predictable.

A rational, informed, intelligent response? Thanks mate.

Mog The Almighty wrote:

Leinsterman wrote:Well that was predictable.

A rational, informed, intelligent response? Thanks mate.

Whatever you're smoking, sure.

Gospel wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:Lance in cycling. Tiger in golf. Footballers screeching at refs. Loads of bad behaviour is let slide because those athletes bring in the big bucks. No one wants to stop the gravy train.

Bit unfair on Tiger Woods. Since when is it bad behaviour for sports stars to cheat on their wives?

He broke the law as well didn't he? Though weirdly his criticisms and backlash weren't consistent with otehr stars. However I tend to find star athletes of teams get way less crap for their faults. probably because of rabid fans. It seems multiple NFL players have done worse than those mentioned.

Leinsterman wrote:

Mog The Almighty wrote:

Leinsterman wrote:Well that was predictable.

A rational, informed, intelligent response? Thanks mate.

Whatever you're smoking, sure.

Tell me exactly where you think I'm wrong.

McGregor keeping things boiling



The mans a world class wind up merchant.

bessantj wrote:McGregor keeping things boiling



The mans a world class wind up merchant.

Exactly this.

Like I said before, my favourite fighter is Thug Rose, who is basically the total opposite of a trash talker. So it's not that I "like" his trash talking. I'm just saying what it is and what it's not.

He's a wind up merchant, that's it, that's all. He's not the first, he won't be the last, and he's actually pretty good at it too and has had a history of backing it up. To pretend he's the first, or that it's unusual in the fight game is silly. And to imply that it's a reasonable excuse or justification for Khabib and his goons to go on a rampage through the crowd and attack a defeated opponent from behind, that's just absurd, and shows how out of touch some lay people are with combat sports.

ID2 wrote:

Leinsterman wrote:

Nolanator wrote:

Leinsterman wrote:I feel sorry for McGregor's parents because they actually are lovely people.

Did you not see that video where his dad made a big fuss about how all the change he got from the Luas ticket machine wouldn't fit comfortably into his custom tailored Hugo Boss jacket?
Came across as a complete bellend.

That was stupid alright but he's actually sound. The mother is incredibly nice.

Tbf that was clearly a pisstake. The man was using a €20 note to ride on public transport but the outraged online were all over it saying he's a snob and whatnot, interesting to watch

TBH I did wonder if it was all some WUM, but I know nothing else about the man/family to make any judgement.

Mog The Almighty wrote:

The Native wrote:

Anonymous. wrote:

The Native wrote:

Flametop wrote:
It depends on how much McGregor wants it.
He’s not really hungry any more, he has everything he has ever wanted.
That takes a huge edge off in the fight game where one mistake can cost.

His crucial mistake (and where Khabib did his homework) is that he is used to touching his smaller opponents with his right hand in order to gauge the distance, knowing that he is then in reach for the big left hand, while his opponent isn’t.
Khabib being bigger waited for McGregor to touch him and then immediately landed the game changing overhand right, using the touch to know he was also in range.

His crucial mistake is that he didn't train hard or well enough to counter or at least effectively combat Khabib's ground game. He also has dire cardio, by comparison, and the desire/motivation was lacking. But he's a tapper if he can't land a KO. Nate Diaz exposed that and Khabib proved it.

I love how people want to make this all about McCregor.

It's all about if he wants it enough
His big mistake was not training hard enough

I will admit I can't say you are talking shit because unlike you I don't know how much he wanted it or how hard he trained. Unlike you I don't know his condition when he got in the cage.

What I do know is he said he trained hard. He said he was up for it.

He got comprehensively beat the fuck up

I know you guys don't want to accept it but sometimes a figher really wants something and trains really hard but just comes up against a better fighter and gets comprehensively beat the fuck up, Maybe that is what happened.

Let me clarify, I'm not defending him at all. I'm team Nurmagomedov. McGregor is a twat and I enjoyed him getting a complete beat down. His conditioning and ground skills were appalling as opposed to Khabib's which are outstanding. I'm not mad at that. Khabib is a far more well rounded fighter and I thought Conor was always going to lose but I anticipated it going the distance as I assumed McGregor would've improved his conditioning and his ground game. He didn't and got beat like a redheaded step child.

I think you're just wrong on several levels. Firstly, Khabib is clearly not a more well-rounded figher. He's just an unstoppable mauler. His submission game is decent, his stand-up is poor and is stand-up defence is close to amateur, just his mauling, smothering, ground'n'pound skills are level ten-billion. On the other hand, McGregor's ground skills are far from appalling. McGregor is a very decent grappler, I think a jujitsu brown-belt from memory, which is no f-cking joke, he has he has one of the best take-down defences in the game, and if you know what you're looking at, he actually did fairly well defending Khabib on the ground - relatively speaking that is. He was repeatedly able to get his legs free and keep his head above his waist, and his guard was better than average, at least for portions of the fight, which is not what you expect from a striker and it's far better than many of Khabib's previous opponent's have managed, even renown wrestlers. Clearly Conor is not a renown wrestler and Khabib is a freak wrestler, but to say Conor's ground game is "appalling" is just wrong. In addition, Conor is also one of the best strikers in the UFC. All in all, Conor is clearly the more "well rounded" fighter. While Khabib was clearly the better fighter. That's only because Khabib's mauling wrestling skills is just on such a different level, nobody has figured it out yet. That doesn't make him "well rounded".

Next, Conor's conditioning was clearly improved, and Khabib's conditioning is nothing to write home about. Khabib has a habit of falling off in the later rounds and the Conor gameplan was clearly centered around that, and it was a sound gameplan, it just didn't work out for them on the night. Khabib has demonstrated in the past that his take-down success rate drops off sharply in the later rounds. Conor's plan was to play his stand up game when he could, and if/when he got taken down, then to just eat a 10-9 round and try and let Khabib wear himself out expending the least amount of energy, and taking the least amount of damage himself possible, then to start to unleash around round 3 or 4 where Khabib would (in theory) be sucking in big ones. That was the gameplan for Conor and he was doing it at-least moderately well until he got clocked with that over-hand right. That was the turning point in the fight. Not Khabib being well rounded, not Conor having appalling ground skills or appalling conditioning.

I was predicting a Khabib win all along. I'm not a huge fan of Conor's trash-talking, but I don't mind it either. It used to be funny. Lately is become a bit more crass and witless. I was going for Khabib and I was glad he won, because I think he deserves to be recognized as the best in the world. Because he is. I would have though it an injustice if Conor flat-lined him with a "lucky" punch (which was very well within the realms of possibility). So I was going for Khabib, until after the fight. Assaulting corner-men and TeamKhabib hangers-on leaping into the ring and throwing haymakers, from behind at a well beaten opponent who just went four rounds with the death-mauler-of-Dagestan and maybe at the moment recovering from traumatic brain injury is just totally inexcusable in every way. I went from a Khabib fan to wishing Conor actually had knocked him out.

It's quite obvious his stand up is not poor. It's not his strength, but he didn't get his head punched/kicked off by McGregor and managed to land his owns blows, which enabled him to take McGregor down.

Mog, Moggy, Mogster - Khabib is a far more well rounded fighter. Look at his record 27 wins - 8 via KO, 9 via submission and 10 via decision and he's a combat sambo gold medallist not to mention insane wrestler. McGregor's brown belt in BJJ is for shit. He got qualified by his head coach. All his losses have come via submission. He's got decent takedown defense but that's it.

Khabib also rocked Conor with that overhand right. McGregor's stand up had virtually no influence on the fight and that includes the third round which was largely fought on foot.

Bloody hell.

What an utterly stupid sport supported by knackers.

La soule wrote:Bloody hell.

What an utterly stupid sport supported by knackers.

Agree.

The Native wrote:Khabib also rocked Conor with that overhand right. McGregor's stand up had virtually no influence on the fight and that includes the third round which was largely fought on foot.

The Native wrote:Mog, Moggy, Mogster - Khabib is a far more well rounded fighter. Look at his record 27 wins - 8 via KO, 9 via submission and 10 via decision and he's a combat sambo gold medallist not to mention insane wrestler. McGregor's brown belt in BJJ is for shit. He got qualified by his head coach. All his losses have come via submission. He's got decent takedown defense but that's it.

Nobody is arguing about whether Khabib has the better record or not. He's just not "well rounded". He's a level-one-billion wrestler ... and that's about it.

I've followed his career since day #1 and seen all of his fights on UFC Fight Pass multiple times. I suggest both you and Homer do the same instead of casting judgement based on that one encounter. FFS in his last fight, a literal third-choice, last minute replacement took him all the way to five rounds and could have easily knocked him out, Khabib's stand-up was so poor in that fight and he was heavily critisized for his exceedingly poor defence and stand up skills. No doubt he worked on his stand up defence a lot before facing McGregor, but in no way is Khabib a strong stand-up fighter, nor "well rounded". Neither thing stop him being dominant, that's not the argument.

Mog The Almighty wrote:

kiwinoz wrote:

Mog The Almighty wrote: I think you're just wrong on several levels.

Mog The Almighty wrote: Khabib's conditioning is nothing to write home about

Chael Sonnon says Khabib's conditioning is absolutely awesome and Mog knows shit

Chael Sonnon is an attention seeking mong with an IQ of about 55. You could fill up a ten-thousand page thread with "dumb shit Chael Sonnon" said.

I said his conditioning is nothing to write home about, not that it was terrible. And it's all relative. Obviously all of them have phenomenal conditioning compared to your average guy. But the stats don't lie. Watch the Al Iaquinta fight. It's just a fact of reality that his take down success drops sharply the longer the fight goes on. That's what the statistics show no matter what Chael Sonnon rants about on YouTube.

Sonnon recalled what he and his coach saw. Did you even listen? Sonnon said the only other close would be Ferguson to that level. He also said Connors gassing was a misunderstanding - was he wrong on that too?

Mog The Almighty wrote:

The Native wrote:Khabib also rocked Conor with that overhand right. McGregor's stand up had virtually no influence on the fight and that includes the third round which was largely fought on foot.

The Native wrote:Mog, Moggy, Mogster - Khabib is a far more well rounded fighter. Look at his record 27 wins - 8 via KO, 9 via submission and 10 via decision and he's a combat sambo gold medallist not to mention insane wrestler. McGregor's brown belt in BJJ is for shit. He got qualified by his head coach. All his losses have come via submission. He's got decent takedown defense but that's it.

Nobody is arguing about whether Khabib has the better record or not. He's just not "well rounded". He's a level-one-billion wrestler ... and that's about it.

I've followed his career since day #1 and seen all of his fights on UFC Fight Pass multiple times. I suggest both you and Homer do the same instead of casting judgement based on that one encounter. FFS in his last fight, a literal third-choice, last minute replacement took him all the way to five rounds and could have easily knocked him out, Khabib's stand-up was so poor in that fight. No doubt he worked on his stand up defence a lot before facing McGregor, but in no way is Khabib a strong stand-up fighter, nor "well rounded". Neither thing stop him being dominant, that's not the argument.

Well without getting into a pissing contest as to who has watched the most hours of MMA and has the most in depth knowledge of the contestants (it's me, by the way)....

You said about Khabib 'his stand-up is poor and is stand-up defence is close to amateur'. This is weapons-grade bollocks. Whilst that might have been the case back in 2012/2013/2014, you spoke in the present tense.

bessantj wrote:McGregor keeping things boiling



The mans a world class wind up merchant.

Which battle is he saying he won? Dear God it can't have been the battle of dress sense.