Why do people think Khabib struggles with take downs in late rounds?

TheChosenOne

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I'm new to MMA compared to you folks and it baffles me the amount of times I hear most of you guys praising Al or Conor for stuffing some take downs in the later rounds as though they accomplished something.

What I see versus most of you guys is that those take downs are half ass attempts versus the ones where he goes for broke like the very first one in the first round of the Conor fight and the one where he locked on to Al's foot like his life depended on it.

So why is Khabib in the later rounds when he's easily winning the fight doing half assed take down attempts you ask? Simply to break the rhythm of the opponent, think of it as a double or triple jab in boxing. If it's successful cool, if not no big deal because now the opponent is petrified of being taken down and is constantly being reminded of that thus throwing off their striking game and in turn making Khabib more successful with his strikes. It's comparable to guys who throw shitty front kicks for range, throwing of the opponent's rhythm etc...
 
Maybe he gets tired after cutting all that weight?
 
K1 instincts take over and his heart isn't in the takedowns anymore.
 
Yes, Khabib goes all out to secure the take downs in the early rounds to create a "buffer" of won rounds and to fatigue his opponent. In the third and later rounds, single rounds become less important to dominate, so it's not worth burning his whole gas tank for one take down. It's not like he's intentionally failing, but he doesn't mind too much if he doesn't get it. Far better for him to keep gas in the tank and cruise to victory than get completely exhausted chain-wrestling (and then potentially KO'd/subbed himself) even when he's leading on the judges' cards.
 
Sometimes I think his dominance and the fact that he’s pretty much never been hurt in a fight and barely lost one round his whole career has just raised people’s expectations so high it’s tough for him to meet them.
It’s almost like some people see anything less than a 10-8 round as a failure on his part.
 
When someone wins like Khabib does you have really blow up little things he does. Same reason why Michael Johnson "rocked" him.
 
It seems like he takes that 3rd round to rest and turns it back up in the 4th. He'll shoot some half assed td attempts just to disrupt his opponent's striking, but overall, I think he's just resting to finish strong. For that reason, I think Ferguson is his toughest fight. Ferguson won't allow him to rest in the 3rd, which it seems like he needs, and I don't think he can keep the same pace for 25 minutes. Tony can.
 
Maybe because he's a natural welterweight. He is so good at sitting on guys, well done, it's a glorified form of sumo
 
Khabib's cardio is more overrated than Conor's power. The guy gets tired. It's that simple. Chain wrestling expends a lot of valuable energy when you're already tired. Therefore, Khabib decides against it in fights where he doesn't feel threatened.

Nobody has punished Khabib for getting tired yet. Wait until Tony gets on his ass.
 
It's called pacing yourself.

All the greats do it.

Notice how Khabib came back with domianant TD's against Iaquinta and McGregor at the ends of those fights.
 
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