Sherdog's Own Pick for UFC 229: Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov

[Kevster]

Gut says McGregor by KO, no where near confident enough to drop money on it.

 

[Clippy]

Gut says McGregor by KO, no where near confident enough to drop money on it.

My gut says why did I eat all those pizza pockets

I mean they were so good but was it worth it

 

[KeepItRealist]

My prediction: Either Conor catches Khabib early in round one or two or he gets destroyed on the ground.

I think it mostly depends on how Khabib tries to fight. If he tries to stand like he did against Iaquinta for whatever reason, he will get KO'd for sure. But if he immediately goes for the TDs and keeps Conor down like he should, I see total domination and Conor not lasting two rounds.

 

[DoopidyDawesome]

Both guys possess each other's kryptonite but I think Khabib will weather the early storm and proceed to demolish Conor.

 

[Noraa 666]

Mystic Mac by flash ko

 

[Peteyandjia]

I legit woke up expecting to see "fights off" on Sherdog main page

The surprising part is that it's actually still on

You didn’t hear the news?

 

[Clippy]

You didn’t hear the news?

 

[Usedtobeablackbelt]

That's pretty accurate tbh.

Trust me buddy you won't lose ur account, Conor got this

 

[Usedtobeablackbelt]

The ceremonial weigh-In drama of last night reminded of another big fight and shook fighting star...

And we all remember the end results of all this false bravado

24hrs later ↓↓↓

This won't be the case, I net you were Also saying that Aldo won weigh in or that Conor has lost it during 205 press

 

[Paynebringer]

This won't be the case, I net you were Also saying that Aldo won weigh in or that Conor has lost it during 205 press

You would be wrong Whitebelt, Aldo broke character at that faceoff Aldo never makes eye contact in stare downs but for that fight he locked in on Conor I would've felt better if stuck to doing his usual thing. At that point I knew he was off...

 

[Paynebringer]

I legit woke up expecting to see "fights off" on Sherdog main page

The surprising part is that it's actually still on

Still not ready to completely believe until those fuckers are in the cage tho

Modern UFC fights are unreliable as hell

C'mon @Clippy don't be a ↓↓↓

 

[Usedtobeablackbelt]

You would be wrong Whitebelt, Aldo broke character at that faceoff Aldo never makes eye contact in stare downs but for that fight he locked in on Conor I would've felt better if stuck to doing his usual thing. At that point I knew he was off...

Lmao are u actually mocking me with that whitebelt comment or urself since u the one who spent more then decade on this dumbass forum, I have been there only since 2017 april..

Also fym that Aldo never makes eyecontact during staredowns on weigh in ? Only time he looks to the ground is in the cage

 

[Clippy]

C'mon @Clippy don't be a ↓↓↓

Still plenty of time for Conor to slip over a bottle of Proper 12 or Khabib to go for a jog and trip over a roller skate someone left out

Fuck sakes after the wire shit with Tony ANYTHING can happen

 

[surgeyou1]

The ceremonial weigh-In drama of last night reminded of another big fight and shook fighting star...

And we all remember the end results of all this false bravado

24hrs later ↓↓↓

Oh the undefeated grappling champion getting exposed by the superior striker?

Yeah it reminded me of that too.

 

[Paynebringer]

Lmao are u actually mocking me with that whitebelt comment or urself since u the one who spent more then decade on this dumbass forum, I have been there only since 2017 april..

Also fym that Aldo never makes eyecontact during staredowns on weigh in ? Only time he looks to the ground is in the cage

Yet here you are with me on this dumbass forum...

 

[BEER]

Oh the undefeated grappling champion getting exposed by the superior striker?

Yeah it reminded me of that too.

Damn I'm pulling for Kabob here but this made me laugh.

 

[Paynebringer]

Oh the undefeated grappling champion getting exposed by the superior striker?

Yeah it reminded me of that too.

Conor is yet to take anyone out with his spin & miss kick...

 

[Dee Devlin]

Why do people make polls that don't close before the fight starts?

Conor's going to whip his ass and make it look easy.

 

[GOATER]

Cain vs jds 2 and 3.

I feel khabib is just gonna pressure him..he doesnt have to keep em down..just keep him pressured and out volume conor.

Conor is good at keeping distance, but not maintaining it....if he gets overwhelmed, he cant do much, other than literally turn around and run away like the diaz match.

You cant allow him to keep the distance..Khabib needs to keep it close and just watch out for Conor's spam uppercuts that he throws from those short distance...His straight left should be a non factor, once khabib has him pressured against the cage or he has closed the distance that his left wont have any windup power.

If Khabib has him against the cage with his body preasure and just beats on him....Conor is gone.

Trust me...Conor is getting JDSed tonight.

Wish I could create a thread.

 

[Usedtobeablackbelt]

Apologies for sending my reply in a bit late.

Edit: Looks like I was indeed too late in replying to TS's pm. Here's my breakdown of the fight:


This is how the fight plays out:

Conor tries to yell and intimidate Khabib during touching gloves. Likely he will flip Khabib off or at least really get in his face.
Conor knows this is his last minute to try to draw some emotion from Khabib, so that Khabib can get careless and wild. It will however, have no effect on Khabib, because Khabib has been waiting all this time for the bell to sound, to get his hands on Conor.
Khabib is calm and calculative. Conor is bouncing around with a very wide stance, and moving a lot. This, is to compensate for the nerves that he's feeling. See, 2 years away... even though he got beat up bad by Mayweather in between... he's not sure of himself as he once was. Adrenaline is kicking in.

Khabib is prepared for this. He's not going to hurry and go for the takedown immediately. He's going to let Conor spend his energy showboating... just like Floyd did. See, Khabib has a good team, a good camp. He's prepared both strategically, and physically.

Conor overcommits here and there and ends up backing up. He's overly cautious of Khabib's takedowns. His strategy of literally running isn't going to work because Khabib knows how to close the distance and engage the clinch.

Conor almost lures himself back to the cage, and perhaps he can circle out once or twice, but Khabib eventually gets to him, and gets him down. There's a bit of slipperiness in Conor though, likely he had taken the age-old baby oil bath one night before the fight. It has been absorbed into his skin. It comes out while he sweats.

But this doesn't matter, because Khabib weighs a ton on top of Conor.

Now either 2 things happens. Khabib slowly puts a beating on Conor without committing too much... to prolong the beating... or he gets mount not before long, and lands in finishing blows.

Khabib is then respectful towards Conor after the fight. To show to the whole world what CLASS really means.

Conor enters into a bigger depression... drinks more, uses more... starts getting the wrong kinds of attention... but he's then booked to fight Nate Diaz anyways... because there's money left for him there to make.