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Tony Ferguson is a tenth planet blackbelt, with a college wrestling pedigree who has a style that works perfectly in MMA
He has an active highguard, loves to threaten submissions from mission control, and has talked about seeing the guard as a "reverse mount" when he thinks about striking from the bottom
But despite his comfort level off his back, he rarely ever settles there, often to choose to work sweeps, butterfly guard, deep half and wrestling style scrambles to constantly make his opponents work to hold him down.
Lastly even when he's not slowly setting up traps and submissions, he has killer instinct and will jump on the neck when sprawled almost instantly, and will do the same when working to his feet as well. His front headlock series is quick, effectively and creative.
It's worth mentioning that his elbows and upkicks constantly create a maze of offense for his opponents to work through, and will probably be extra dangerous against Khabib who works a lot from tripod (knees off the ground) leaving him a legal target for kicks
On the other side we have Khabib who is a master of sport in Sambo, a blackbelt in Judo, and a godly wrestler as well. I think Khabib's freestyle wrestling tactics are underrated (and underused) and his clinch might be a bit overrated but against Tony who doesn't seem to care much about TDD at all this probably won't matter and I don't expect him to struggle to take Tony down early and often
Khabib has top control that along with Maia is probably the best the sport has ever seen, he can strike effectively while stacking an opponent in guard, but still completely control their hips at the same time - it's wild as fuck to watch. His GnP is ruthless, and fighters visibly break when he starts hitting shots. HIs passing game is amazing as well, and he likes to get to half guard or side control before taking the back and wrist-riding his way to more GnP. He transitions from punching, to passing, to striking better than anyone else in the sport and while he rarely goes for them his submission game is nothing to fuck with
Who has the advantage on the ground in this one?
My gut says Khabib will dominate on the mat early, but if he can't wear Tony down form the top he'll run out of steam over 25 minutes and find himself at a disadvantage. Still though, I think his GnP will be too much and even if he loses late rounds he'll at least win a decision
He has an active highguard, loves to threaten submissions from mission control, and has talked about seeing the guard as a "reverse mount" when he thinks about striking from the bottom
But despite his comfort level off his back, he rarely ever settles there, often to choose to work sweeps, butterfly guard, deep half and wrestling style scrambles to constantly make his opponents work to hold him down.
Lastly even when he's not slowly setting up traps and submissions, he has killer instinct and will jump on the neck when sprawled almost instantly, and will do the same when working to his feet as well. His front headlock series is quick, effectively and creative.
It's worth mentioning that his elbows and upkicks constantly create a maze of offense for his opponents to work through, and will probably be extra dangerous against Khabib who works a lot from tripod (knees off the ground) leaving him a legal target for kicks
On the other side we have Khabib who is a master of sport in Sambo, a blackbelt in Judo, and a godly wrestler as well. I think Khabib's freestyle wrestling tactics are underrated (and underused) and his clinch might be a bit overrated but against Tony who doesn't seem to care much about TDD at all this probably won't matter and I don't expect him to struggle to take Tony down early and often
Khabib has top control that along with Maia is probably the best the sport has ever seen, he can strike effectively while stacking an opponent in guard, but still completely control their hips at the same time - it's wild as fuck to watch. His GnP is ruthless, and fighters visibly break when he starts hitting shots. HIs passing game is amazing as well, and he likes to get to half guard or side control before taking the back and wrist-riding his way to more GnP. He transitions from punching, to passing, to striking better than anyone else in the sport and while he rarely goes for them his submission game is nothing to fuck with
Who has the advantage on the ground in this one?
My gut says Khabib will dominate on the mat early, but if he can't wear Tony down form the top he'll run out of steam over 25 minutes and find himself at a disadvantage. Still though, I think his GnP will be too much and even if he loses late rounds he'll at least win a decision