Is Khabib the best striker in the LW division?

He's not an amazing striker in general, but his ground game is so good that his mma striking is one of the best. Javier Mendes is improving his striking by a lot though, and his hands look super fast. His striking by itself is decent.
 
Njmma209 said:
He has now outstruck RDA, Johnson, Barboza, Raging Al, and McGregor. Including wobbling Conor badly.

Khabib has also never been dropped or even visibly rocked.

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Let's be real though... The Conor that showed up to that Khabib fight was washed up drinking 6 or 7 days a week Conor. We also haven't seen Conor fight in MMA since Alvarez. I'm not trying to diminish Khabib's victory but lets cut the shit. Fergeson should be champ, he had the belt and fought top talent to get it. Khabib now beat Iaquinta for the belt somehow and Conor who god knows what kind of mental state he was in. That would be like saying regardless of the USADA implications, Anderson Silva who lost to Bisping that Silva is still that legendary killer. When Khabib fights Tony the cursed fight of the century, then all questions can be answered.
 
fortheo said:
Which is why Johnson's stand up game wasn't as good as khabib's
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Seems more like you're saying Khabib's stand up game was better than MJ's lie down game.
 
As much as I love Khabib, let's not be delusional here: Khabib did not outstrike Conor in round 3 - the same round when Khabib actually tried standing toe to toe with Conor and got outstruck literally 2 to 1. A quick glance at fight metrics shows this very clearly. Khabib is a grappler, not a striker, he has no business trying to stand and bang with Conor or any other good striker in the division. Refusing to play to your strengths while ignoring the strengths of your opponent is a sure path to ruination and I hope Khabib does not travel along this path by falling in love with his striking.

I think we all remember what happened to Ronda.
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He lands because his opponents are so worried about the TD.
 
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Kahbib's striking isn't pretty, but it's effective sorta like John Jones. Even if he had average take downs, he would still out strike a lot of fighters because his style is wild, unpredictable, and hard to train for just like Jones.
 
It's the threat of the take-down that opens his opponents up to strikes.
If you knew anything about martial arts you'd see this.
 
DariusTheGreat said:
It seems crazy but its actually true lol. I mean could u imagine that if i told u before the fight Khabib was gonna dominate the stand-up and wobble Conor, you'd never expect that shit in a million years.
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Njmma209 said:
He has now outstruck RDA, Johnson, Barboza, Raging Al, and McGregor. Including wobbling Conor badly.

Khabib has also never been dropped or even visibly rocked.

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UFC178 said:
It was weird to see Conor get out struck on the feet by Khabib. Still feel like that was a dream Lol

Even the 3rd round where Conor won, he was barely getting the better of the exchanges. Khabib even forced Conor to the cage with strikes to the head.

The whole event was so strange
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Why do people keep saying Khabib outstruck or even dominate Conor standing? I mean, yes he landed clearly the best single punch of the fight, but other than that Conor landed 45 significant strikes on the feet vs Khabib's 25. So statistically Conor outstruck Khabib standing by almost double the amount of strikes.

So Im asking again, where did you get this idea Khabib outstruck Conor when it is not true? Because of that one punch?
 
Oeshon said:
Nope. Most people who know MMA expected it (ie, me).

It is the same way GSP beat so many fighters on the feet. The threat of the takedown allows them so much liberty in the standup. They don't need to be the best pure striker to win the striking.
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"The threat of the takedown" i wonder way this doesn't work with Kevin lee ?
 
Khabib's striking is a function of his wrestling which is among some of the best ever, so in terms of MMA striking he might be "the best" considering his opponents can't even strike back due to being mauled where their body literally cannot perform at the highest level, thus Khabib's pillow strikes still beat their 50-75% strikes.

In terms of actual striking, put Khabib and Conor together in the boxing ring and Conor destroys him.
 
Oeshon said:
Nope. Most people who know MMA expected it (ie, me).

It is the same way GSP beat so many fighters on the feet. The threat of the takedown allows them so much liberty in the standup. They don't need to be the best pure striker to win the striking.
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This... so much truth.

When a guy knows he is one false move away from getting pummeled for up to 4-5minutes until the bell or the ref hopefully saves them from being beaten on it is easier for a wild or let's say less sophisticated strike or 12 to land.
 
CrusadeAgainstTheMachine said:
Khabib's striking is a function of his wrestling which is among some of the best ever, so in terms of MMA striking he might be "the best" considering his opponents can't even strike back due to being mauled where their body literally cannot perform at the highest level, thus Khabib's pillow strikes still beat their 50-75% strikes.

In terms of actual striking, put Khabib and Conor together in the boxing ring and Conor destroys him.
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"Pillow strikes"

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See Conor square up his hip to sprawl before that right hand lands. That's the most classic wrestle-boxer double fake of all time. The threat of the takedown / overhand right.

Well done.

I still think the best strikers have to be Connor, Barboza, Diaz, Cerrone, Pettis.

GSP's striking is pretty good but looked sensational as opponents didn't want to get layed on in half guard so were half committed to sprawling.

This is the game of MMA.
 
Njmma209 said:
He has now outstruck RDA, Johnson, Barboza, Raging Al, and McGregor. Including wobbling Conor badly.

Khabib has also never been dropped or even visibly rocked.

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Not sure if you're trolling or not but here goes nothing.

No, Khabib is not even a top 50 striker in LW. He is just THAT good of a wrestler with an unbelievable top game that all his opponents are afraid to freely strike with him.

In a pure striking match, Khabib will lose to all elite and even "just good" strikers.

P.S. Khabib did not wobble Conor. Nate Diaz did though.
 
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