some historical context (on Khabib)

[Dionysian]

Not entirely Sherdog friendly (the guy who made the video has an accent/English is not his first language/no face the pain music) but if you're a new fan it certainly beats reading wikipedia or seeing a single fight.



The vid is a tad long so cliff notes are:

1. Dispels UFC newb notion that all non-UFC fighters are cans and covers who he fought in his early career. Multiple guys with storied martial arts backgrounds even if you don't know about them and if Rogan didn't educate you on how excited you should be by talking about their muscles and how they worked in a mine and "aren't a real person."

2. Shows when Khabib employed more submissions in his early career/evolution of his game.

3. Covers his UFC history. Specifically derails the "I started watching when Conor beat Aldo" narrative about Khabib not having many ranked wins. Healy + RDA + Johnson + Barboza all ranked wins without losing a round. Also covers his efforts to fight more top ranked competition that steered clear of a fight against him (first Nate, then Melendez, then Alvarez, now Conor all when they were ranked)

 

[jeff7b9]

Is there anyone doubting or downplaying Khabib's skills and achievements?

His UFC run has been incredible and speaks for itself.

Dude is legit as they come.

 

[ftpngo]

Is there anyone doubting or downplaying Khabib's skills and achievements?

His UFC run has been incredible and speaks for itself.

Dude is legit as they come.

Conor fanboys and 'I only respect striking fans' belittle his achievements and skills on the daily. This is.sherdog afterall.

 

[RcksonbyArmbar]

Not entirely Sherdog friendly (the guy who made the video has an accent/English is not his first language/no face the pain music) but if you're a new fan it certainly beats reading wikipedia or seeing a single fight.



The vid is a tad long so cliff notes are:

1. Dispels UFC newb notion that all non-UFC fighters are cans and covers who he fought in his early career. Multiple guys with storied martial arts backgrounds even if you don't know about them and if Rogan didn't educate you on how excited you should be by talking about their muscles and how they worked in a mine and "aren't a real person."

2. Shows when Khabib employed more submissions in his early career/evolution of his game.

3. Covers his UFC history. Specifically derails the "I started watching when Conor beat Aldo" narrative about Khabib not having many ranked wins. Healy + RDA + Johnson + Barboza all ranked wins without losing a round. Also covers his efforts to fight more top ranked competition that steered clear of a fight against him (first Nate, then Melendez, then Alvarez, now Conor all when they were ranked)

lol, i remember when you "started watching when tuf season 1 was" was a thing.
KHABIB IS A BEAST

 

[Death By Samson]

Is there anyone doubting or downplaying Khabib's skills and achievements?

His UFC run has been incredible and speaks for itself.

Dude is legit as they come.

Anyone who doubts that Khabib is the real deal at this point is completely clueless.

 

[executionermma]

2/3 of his record are cans. He has like 8 or 9 good wins, less than some LWs and i think that's the point most reasonable people usually make. His 25 wins aren't as good as Ferguson's 22.

 

[12ga.]

Not really a fan of one dimension fighters. Think khabib is way overrated and when someone can stop his TDs with better striking he will get lit up. Tibau showed it possible. Can't wait for April 7 and Lee, Geathje or Alvarez after. Think he mows through everyone else though.

 

[Dionysian]

2/3 of his record are cans. He has like 8 or 9 good wins, less than some LWs and i think that's the point most reasonable people usually make. His 25 wins aren't as good as Ferguson's 22.

I'm not gonna discredit Tony's resume to argue this point because he is elite and deserves all credit that he gets... but I'll leave it at saying that you can certainly argue over this.

Not really a fan of one dimension fighters. Think khabib is way overrated and when someone can stop his TDs with better striking he will get lit up. Tibau showed it possible. Can't wait for April 7 and Lee, Geathje or Alvarez after. Think he mows through everyone else though.

Are you saying he loses to Tony and no one else? Or Tony and those three guys but beats the rest?

 

[12ga.]

I don't know if he wins or loses to Tony and those other guys. I just think they will be biggest tests rather than competition thus far. His last two were complete style mismatches I knew he'd dominate so I can't wait until he's fighting guys who won't be so easy to TD.

 

[Sakuraba7]

I've written before about some of the opponents Khabib's beaten in his earlier career:


He beat Oleg Bagov who's a multiple time Russian Combat Sambo champion, 3x Russian UWW Grappling champion, 2011 UWW World Grappling champion, 2013 World Combat Games gold medalist. He placed 3rd just this year alone at FIAS Russian Combat Sambo championships, all while he's an active MMA fighter.

He beat Vadim Sandulsky, who's a multiple time Moldova Combat Sambo champ, decorated in Judo.

He beat Eldar Eldarov, multiple time Russian Combat Sambo champ and World medalist. Now works as the national coach for MMA in Bahrain.

He beat Shahbulat Shamlaev, winner of the Bellator 2012 Featherweight Tournament, decorated in Sanda.


These aren't taxi drivers. These are guys who legit trained for martial arts their entire life. The Russian MMA scene is filled with talent with extensive amateur backgrounds. People try to downplay the guys Khabib fought. Assuming all his opponents records are even well-recorded (Many fighters from Asia/Russia don't have complete FF records). Its not like the UK/Ireland scenes where people watch MMA on TV think its cool and decide to have a go at it. At least in the US, you have wrestling in high school and half the guys getting into MMA have amateur experience.

 

[executionermma]

I'm not gonna discredit Tony's resume to argue this point because he is elite and deserves all credit that he gets... but I'll leave it at saying that you can certainly argue over this.



Are you saying he loses to Tony and no one else? Or Tony and those three guys but beats the rest?

What i'm saying is that Khabib's record isn't as impressive as Tony's when you put the level of competition side to side. Could Khabib beat Tony? Sure, i don't think he will, but to this day? Tony has a higher number of impressive wins.

 

[Carsormyr]

Not really a fan of one dimension fighters. Think khabib is way overrated and when someone can stop his TDs with better striking he will get lit up. Tibau showed it possible. Can't wait for April 7 and Lee, Geathje or Alvarez after. Think he mows through everyone else though.

People used to say the same shit about Hughes. The problem is that stopping those take downs is a very tall order.

 

[Fungoose]

Is there anyone doubting or downplaying Khabib's skills and achievements?

His UFC run has been incredible and speaks for itself.

Dude is legit as they come.

Up until the last two fights, yeah. It died down after the destruction of Johnson, but there were still a lot of detractors. It’s really been stifled since he savaged Barbosa.

 

[Sakuraba7]

Not really a fan of one dimension fighters. Think khabib is way overrated and when someone can stop his TDs with better striking he will get lit up. Tibau showed it possible. Can't wait for April 7 and Lee, Geathje or Alvarez after. Think he mows through everyone else though.

Once Tibau got off the roids, he couldn't even put up against Budget Khabib though. <{chips}>

 

[Fungoose]

lol, i remember when you "started watching when tuf season 1 was" was a thing.
KHABIB IS A BEAST

Tuf noobs, Fox noobs... how innocent it all was. Who knew the buffoonery that was soon to be upon us with Conor era.

 

[TIMELESS TRUTH]

Noob-revisionism strikes again!

 

[manboy<3]

Khabib is the second coming of Igor Vochanchyn except this time it's grappling

He is abnormally strong

 

[Mixedfights]

His striking is terrible. His wrestling is amazing.

Both of these statements are true.

His crash is coming. He's the male Ronda except he begs oponents to quit and she finished them in seconds.

These are facts.

 

[Sakuraba7]

His striking is terrible. His wrestling is amazing.

Both of these statements are true.

His crash is coming. He's the male Ronda except he begs oponents to quit and she finished them in seconds.

These are facts.

You think Khabib is going to go on some sort of losing streak? He could lose against Tony and he could just as easily win his next fight and get back on track.

 

[Rationality]

The reason Khabib is very dangerous is that he is one of the few great fighters who was not rushed to a title fight -- thrown to the wolves, so to speak. He has had a lot of time to see different styles and refine his game. There are a lot of other fighters whom I believed were sent to a big payday by El Douche who weren't ready. Not Khabib.