Is Khabib's inability to finish fights bothering you?

[The Natural Born Runner]

I ask this question because it's universally agreed that us fans would ideally like to see finishes in fights.

Sure, when two high level combatants enter the cage it's not always possible to finish the other guy, but when one of them does pull it off, especially on a regular basis, it catapults them up the all-time rankings.

Anderson Silva, Jon Jones and Shogun Rua are 3 high level fighters who throughout their careers have always made a habit of getting finishes in their fights. Shogun is somewhat the outlier here as his prime didn't last as long as the other two, but during his prime years he was an absolute killer.

I look at Khabib Nurmagomedov and I ask myself "is his inability to finish fights hurting his all-time stock?"

It's early days for Khabib still, yes he is 26-0, but he's only truly been competing at the highest level for 2-3 years when you consider how long he's been out with injuries etc. with that said, is he in danger of slipping into the area of criticism that St. Pierre and Cruz fell into? A front runner who plays it safe and doesn't push for the finish.

Khabib even has some people believing that he deliberately doesn't finish fights, in my opinion that notion is ridiculous. I think I've seen a handful of fights in all my time watching combat sports where I can truly say that I think the opponent "took it easy" on his opposition. I don't believe that Khabib let Iaquinta, Barboza or anyone else for that matter "survive", I genuinely think he plays it safe when he is up big or he simply cannot get the finish.

10 UFC fights, 4 finishes. 1 finish against a ranked opponent. Is that enough?

I welcome your feedback and opinions guys.

 

[GrantSorenson]

He's said a couple of times that he could have finished but didn't. I didn't believe him when he said it. I don't think he could have finished Iaquinta. He tried.

 

[chinarice]

I don't like khabib nor do I enjoy his fight style. That said, winning is the most important thing.

I can't knock khabib for what he does, when Georges nullified his opponents just as much as khabib and I enjoyed watching GSP.. I say it is on the losing guy to do something. If they can't, that is more telling about Khabib's opponent than khabib.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

He's said a couple of times that he could have finished but didn't. I didn't believe him when he said it. I don't think he could have finished Iaquinta. He tried.

Totally agree, why would a fighter not go for the finish when they could? Makes no sense.

 

[Calipwnia]

Totally agree, why would a fighter not go for the finish when they could? Makes no sense.

they are GSPing it.

Which corner told their fighter to "GSP" in between rounds? I forget...

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

I don't like khabib nor do I enjoy his fight style. That said, winning is the most important thing.

I can't knock khabib for what he does, when Georges nullified his opponents just as much as khabib and I enjoyed watching GSP.. I say it is on the losing guy to do something. If they can't, that is more telling about Khabib's opponent than khabib.

I definitely get you, and I don't disagree that "winning in the most important thing".

My question was more geared around the notion or idea that it may hurt his legacy if he cannot put people away. Iaquinta has been finished before, but much lesser fighters, Khabib over 25 minutes should be finishing him.

 

[octagon888]

I don't like when people say the k word.

 

[TRTVitor]

I think what he said about the Barboza fight , that he wanted to get all three 5 minute rounds in his system , I believe him. He could've easily finished barboza if he would've just poured it on a bit but chose to coast to a decision win. However , you can't use that excuse every time. I do believe he was trying to finish Iaquinta but that's a really tough and game dude he was working with. I think regardless of the finish or not, what people like to watch about Khabib is the dominance in the way he beats his opponents. I'm sure as hell entertained by it and I'm
Sure most of the people on this board are as well. Hes A dominant old school "one trick pony" fighter, but its much more impressive to be so in the modern era, where now everyone is trying to be good everywhere. I believe that as long as he stays undefeated, people are going to tune in

 

[Hotora86]

I'm a Machida fan. I always preferred to see him dominate a UD then go headhunting and risk getting KOd. Trying to be "entertaining" was the start his downfall.

Thus, I am 100% fine with Khabib winning dominate UDs. That's what he does well and I don't want another delusional Ronda standup story.

 

[kmelloh]

No, it doesn’t. I’ve never cared if someone got the finish. Maybe because I grew up watching GSP and he’s a legend where I’m from no matter his finish rate.

 

[ortizgnp]

It's hard to finish people when you don't have the power required to do so.

But no, it doesn't bother me.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

they are GSPing it.

Which corner told their fighter to "GSP" in between rounds? I forget...

There's a difference though.

I'm not denying that Khabib is "GSP'ing it", I actually agree and think that he's probably holding position and taking the W the easy way instead of pushing for a finish like Zabit does, even when he is winning easy. What I'm referring to is the ridiculous claim that he is deliberately not finishing the fight and he could if he truly wanted to, that is BS to me.

 

[PalmStrike]

Totally agree, why would a fighter not go for the finish when they could? Makes no sense.

I think its more that you need to sprint, to use a large burst of energy to finish someone and if it doesn't go the way you planned, you may gas out and the momentum could swing the other way.

I prefer killers like Fedor and Wand but I understand the GSP side of the story.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

I'm a Machida fan. I always preferred to see him dominate a UD then go headhunting and risk getting KOd. Trying to be "entertaining" was the start his downfall.

Thus, I am 100% fine with Khabib winning dominate UDs. That's what he does well and I don't want another delusional Ronda standup story.

I'm definitely not suggesting that he become a stand-up based fighter, but I personally think he should be getting more finishes on the ground.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

I think its more that you need to sprint, to use a large burst of energy to finish someone and if it doesn't go the way you planned, you may gas out and the momentum could swing the other way.

I prefer killers like Fedor and Wand but I understand the GSP side of the story.

Well that points towards a weakness in his game then.

He cuts way too much weight and carries way too much size for that division, so when he gets on top he can never truly "sprint" for the finish because he'll probably gas, a little like rounds 4-5 of the Iaquinta fight.

I personally don't see the "excitement" in his style, he's effective and he's a beast at getting people down but I don't see a great Mixed Martial Artist.

 

[MMA_Fan]

GSP goes to a decision in 46% of his wins while Khabib is only 38% for Khabib. I don't understand why they keeping being compared. Here are some notable fighters at LW:
Kevin Lee - 41%
Edson Barboza - 37%
Michael Johnson - 41%

Bottom line is that Khabib is not exactly a decision machine.

 

[magicmarker]

It's spelled boring, not bothering, and yes..

 

[MMACroatia]

No
The longer i can watch this wizard the better

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

GSP goes to a decision in 46% of his wins while Khabib is only 38% for Khabib. I don't understand why they keeping being compared. Here are some notable fighters at LW:
Kevin Lee - 41%
Edson Barboza - 37%
Michael Johnson - 41%

Bottom line is that Khabib is not exactly a decision machine.

This is a very misleading statistic.

GSP: 23 UFC fights
Lee: 13 UFC fights
Barboza: 19 UFC fights
Johnson: 18 UFC fights

I hope you're not counting Khabib's 3 consecutive triangle choke wins over absolute cans in Russia that don't even have wiki pages.

To compare fighters who have consistently been fighting solid talent to a man who has about 3-4 top opponents is crazy to me.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Khabib is a very good fighter, But I do think he has trouble finishing guys. I do not believe for even 1 second that Khabib deliberately didn't finish and made the fight go to a decision. In the fights that goes to decision he is hitting them as hard as he can, but the problem is he doesn't really have any chokes, and the choke is there but he can't seem to get it.

The Abel Trujillo fight for example, Khabib should have finished him about 5,000 times, the choke was there all the time. And Trujillo is very suspect for chokes, he always loses by choke. Khabib should be choking that guy out in the 1st round.

He should work on going for Arm Triangle Chokes and Rear Naked Chokes, so he can finish the guys quicker. I have seen him finish with a choke before in his 1st UFC fight