Will Conor's Training for Floyd, and His Experience Fighting Floyd, Be Valuable Assets vs. Khabib?

[HalifaxHooligan]

There hasn't been a world press tour to allow him to work Khabib into a frenzy, so I can't see he getting in a quick shot to take him out.
Aldo was goaded into making a mistake over the course of weeks, so far the chatter has been minimal around this fight. Plus I think overall Khabib has much better control of his emotions.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

IIRC, during Firas Zahabi's time on Joe Rogan's MMA podcast, he said he likes his fighters working on their boxing so they get used to the pace of lots of punches in that particular range, but doesn't want too much because he doesn't want the boxing mechanics to become too instilled, especially when it comes to a fighter being in very close range. IE, when boxing, glove to glove up against the ropes, where the posture and positioning of the arms is very different.

I don't think Conor is going to accidentally slip into 'boxing' mode when in contact with Khabib, but that is definitely the range Khabib will be focusing on achieving.

I guess that explains why pretty much all Zahabi trained fighters suck at boxing. I saw a clip of him trying to explain the Hendo H Bomb and it is pretty clear that he doesn't know anything about punching mechanics. He is hurting the development of his fighters if he doesn't have them working on boxing in fighting.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

The answer I think is both yes and no.
The way it will help McGregor is the experience he had in the ring with Mayweather. Comparatively Khabib will be much slower and will be wide open defensively. The experience of trying to read and interpret Mayweather's tactics and feints and to try to find openings to land on him will translate very well into mma where he will never face anyone even close to that level in terms of boxing skills.
The reason why I said no as well is primarily because he didn't have a real boxing camp. He could have vastly improved his skill set if he hired a real boxing coach and worked with some high end sparring partners. But what he did instead was have his BJJ coach and his mma coaches and Artem Lobov try and teach him how to box Mayweather. McGregor would have actually performed better in the ring if he had real boxing coaches in his corner and he would have learned a ton of new skills. So as a result of using his mma coaches he limited significantly his development in his boxing skills.
As for this fight, if McGregor can keep Khabib at range, he could make him look silly. With some feints and attacking at angles with his footwork he could light Khabib up on the feet. But the real issue is more of Khabib getting the takedown. Boxing has some very good in fighting tactics and it is possible that McGregor could set up some power shots from the clinch that Khabib isn't expecting or prepared for. That could help with impeding Khabib's plan to get the takedown. If McGregor is actually good at that, it could make a difference in the fight because most grapplers and mma fighters aren't prepared to defend against punches when they clinch and attempt takedowns. Dan Henderson was pretty good at catching people in the clinch with punches and even Cormier did a good job of that against Miocic. But with that stated, McGregor isn't known for or particularly good at power hooks, uppercuts, shovel hooks or over hand punches, he tends more to be a jab cross kind of guy.

 

[PanicWrassler]

No because he did no actual good boxing training.

 

[KingBeef]

You mean the fight he trained for over a year ago and hasn't fought since? Against a guy who's striking on the feet he doesn't have to worry about at all? Yeah, I can see it coming in handy.

 

[bad_k]

Boxers can't come into the UFC and strike with their best strikers

Boxing is a different sport, sport is limited to punches only against someone who only punches back in large 8~12oz gloves.

 

[Mike Hagger]

The answer I think is both yes and no.
The way it will help McGregor is the experience he had in the ring with Mayweather. Comparatively Khabib will be much slower and will be wide open defensively. The experience of trying to read and interpret Mayweather's tactics and feints and to try to find openings to land on him will translate very well into mma where he will never face anyone even close to that level in terms of boxing skills.
The reason why I said no as well is primarily because he didn't have a real boxing camp. He could have vastly improved his skill set if he hired a real boxing coach and worked with some high end sparring partners. But what he did instead was have his BJJ coach and his mma coaches and Artem Lobov try and teach him how to box Mayweather. McGregor would have actually performed better in the ring if he had real boxing coaches in his corner and he would have learned a ton of new skills. So as a result of using his mma coaches he limited significantly his development in his boxing skills.
As for this fight, if McGregor can keep Khabib at range, he could make him look silly. With some feints and attacking at angles with his footwork he could light Khabib up on the feet. But the real issue is more of Khabib getting the takedown. Boxing has some very good in fighting tactics and it is possible that McGregor could set up some power shots from the clinch that Khabib isn't expecting or prepared for. That could help with impeding Khabib's plan to get the takedown. If McGregor is actually good at that, it could make a difference in the fight because most grapplers and mma fighters aren't prepared to defend against punches when they clinch and attempt takedowns. Dan Henderson was pretty good at catching people in the clinch with punches and even Cormier did a good job of that against Miocic. But with that stated, McGregor isn't known for or particularly good at power hooks, uppercuts, shovel hooks or over hand punches, he tends more to be a jab cross kind of guy.

Good breakdown.

His boxing prep will certainly help in any fight. He really exclusively focused on the facet of his game that he was already very good at. I'd bet his timing and foot movement only got better during his training. That being said, he stays on his toes, cuts off the ring well, and depends on timing and anticipation of his opponents strikes. Easily the Alvarez fight was the best demonstration of that, he slipped just enough to be able to throw off powerful strikes because he's on his toes and while slipping he loads his shots. He also stopped over extending himself, like he did in the first Diaz fight and against Mendes, I think he finally ran into fighters that he was unable to punch into Oblivion with ease. Therefore he got too aggressive, and was getting into bad positions. I think he's probably even more controlled after the Mayweather bout. Finally cutting off the ring, his lateral movement is phenomenal, and I'm sure it's better now. Overall though, he was already very good at these things..

What did he lose in the prep is probably what could hurt him in this fight.

I'll say this, Connor is the most dangerous matchup for Khabib and vise versa. The grappling disparity is already known, the cardio disparity as well. What's interesting is who's gamelan will win, all fights start standing the old adage.

I wonder if Connor will use his jab more often, to keep distance, and with movement avoid the clinch all together. If he keeps his back off the fence and fights in space, Khabib will be forced to move into Connors counter striking world. I know Khabib has a chin but I don't think anyone puts hard punches on the button with better timing than Connor in MMA. Not knocking out Diaz didn't make me think any different because no one at LW has a chin like him. But even he was rocked badly.

I'm a fan of both, and am very excited for this one.

 

[FlowchartRog]

Conor is only 3-2 vs fighters over 5’7. Khabib is the best human-sized fighter Conor has ever faced.

Actually 3-3. And this point cannot be overlooked. Conor's whole style and career is predicated on destroying manlets.

Kebab is a solid 5'10, strong as fuck, amazing wrestling, and appears to have a solid enough chin.

 

[Brock-B-level-Athlete]

With floyds help conor could get red belt level hands

 

[I and 250 others]

yeah this should help

 

[PurpleDrank]

Yes i believe alot of his footwork will translate against khabib.

 

[Taric]

Training for pure boxing is honestly major a hindrance towards fighting in MMA. Your stance alone is totally different in boxing because you aren't worried about kicks or takedowns... Forget about all the other differences. Different sports are different.