Deconstructing MMA Myths... [Part 13.1] - Khabib´s Eastern European Career

In what bizarro world is Magomedov fight a loss for Khabib?

The guy literally had one clean kick to khabib's thigh and kicked khabib on the thighs 2-3 times when khabib was on his back due to a sprawl and magamedov stood up and kicked khabib's thigh. Maybe one or two punches of gnp which seemed to miss but could have partially grazed him.
Everything else was blocked.

And he was taken down about at least 7-8 times and spent most of the time on his back defending. There wasn't any success from Khabib in the standup just like there wasn't any success from magomedov in standup. This was Khabib taking him down again and again with marginal success with gnp and some good knees to the grounded opponent along with submission attempts. Add to that, refree stood them up very quickly everytine otherwise Khabib's opponent would spend the entire fight on his back without even the three kicks to the thigh to boast about.

Absolutely zero reason for his opponent to win. If you are taken down like 7-8 times and spend half the time defending from your back, only Cecil's people can score the fight with you or maybe somebody with an agenda.
 
In what bizarro world is Magomedov fight a loss for Khabib?

The guy literally had one clean kick to khabib's thigh and kicked khabib on the thighs 2-3 times when khabib was on his back due to a sprawl and magamedov stood up and kicked khabib's thigh. Maybe one or two punches of gnp which seemed to miss but could have partially grazed him.
Everything else was blocked.

And he was taken down about at least 7-8 times and spent most of the time on his back defending. There wasn't any success from Khabib in the standup just like there wasn't any success from magomedov in standup. This was Khabib taking him down again and again with marginal success with gnp and some good knees to the grounded opponent along with submission attempts.

Absolutely zero reason for his opponent to win. If you are taken down like 7-8 times and spend half the time defending from your back, only Cecil's people can score the fight with you or maybe somebody with an agenda.
nah, Khabib only had ground control in this fight. This is a tough fight to score, but Khabib showed very little, and Magomedov´s submission attempt was more legit than Khabib´s , while Khabib only had some knees on side control. Magomedov did more damage on the feet too.

About the so-called 'agenda', Myth 1 & 2 are conflicting ones, and this thread is actually attacking the extremes about Khabib´s early career.

On a sidenote, you quoting Cecil means that you value No Rush´s ground control/L&P in your MMA 'ideology' when it comes to judging a fight...Im afraid you´re gonna get no hespect here.
 
nah, Khabib only had ground control in this fight. This is a tough fight to score, but Khabib showed very little, and Magomedov´s submission attempt was more legit than Khabib´s , while Khabib only had some knees on side control.

About the so-called 'agenda', Myth 1 & 2 are conflicting ones, and this thread is actually attacking the extremes about Khabib´s early career.

On a sidenote, you quoting Cecil means that you value No Rush´s ground control/L&P in your MMA 'ideology' when it comes to judging a fight...Im afraid you´re gonna get no hespect here.

So we are scoring fights on more impressive submission attempts now? First of all in my opinion magomedov's submission attempt wasn't more impressive, I didn't even remember it and just seen the video again, was it the triangle attempt? Even if it was, it doesn't matter. Secondly Khabib's ground control is the only thing that happened in this fight so there is no other criteria. What exactly did magomedov hit him with, two kicks on the thigh?

Your myth 1 and 2 are conflicting for sure but equally wrong. Khabib clearly won every fight and mostly dominated including the magomedov fight. And his early opponents weren't anything special like it is with most fighter's career.

As for Cecil's people, I don't remember him scoring GSP's fight to a robbery? I think his most famous robbery was Shogun vs Machida so I put that out as a joke and quoted Cecil people as a joke judge, not somebody I like. Maybe I am forgetting and confusing some other decision. Did he score Hendricks vs GSP? There was no lnp in that though. Anyway, you've confused me now.
 
So we are scoring fights on more impressive submission attempts now? First of all in my opinion magomedov's submission attempt wasn't more impressive, I didn't even remember it and just seen the video again, was it the triangle attempt? Even if it was, it doesn't matter. Secondly Khabib's ground control is the only thing that happened in this fight so there is no other criteria. What exactly did magomedov hit him with, two kicks on the thigh?

Your myth 1 and 2 are conflicting for sure but equally wrong. Khabib clearly won every fight and mostly dominated including the magomedov fight. And his early opponents weren't anything special like it is with most fighter's career.

As for Cecil's people, I don't remember him scoring GSP's fight to a robbery? I think his most famous robbery was Shogun vs Machida so I put that out as a joke. Maybe I am forgetting and confusing some other decision. Did he score Hendricks vs GSP? There was no lnp in that though. Anyway, you've confused me now.
1st of all, bear in mind that I said it was a tough fight to score, got it? No hobbery, but depends on your...MMA 'ideology', as I said.

Now you´re arguin´with me without a clear knowledge of the fight... Difficult, right?

Note: if you think about it, since Pankration Atrium Cup had such a trigger-happy stand-up rule (even when Khabib had side control), makes consequently lil sense to reward ground control, imo...

About the premises: this thread tries to go beyond clichés, you obviously only pay attention to fighters´ record, while Im interested in their skillset primarily, since MMA opportunities for them (as Russians or Eastern Europeans) were scarce.

I suggest you try to dig a lil, try to watch their [rare] fights and see their potential. Some of them had interesting skillset and legit potential, but depends on you to make the effort to acknowledge it.
 
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Khabib fought a 0-0 guy in his 15th fight. Almost as bad, a 1-1 guy in his 13th fight, a 0-2 guy in his 12th fight.

How can an undefeated guy get matched against such inexperienced cans this late in his professional career? Moreoever how can an inexperienced opponent (and his coach/manager) accept such a mismatch?

It points to shenanigans, fixed fights, guys paid to show up and lose. Therefore analysing his early career is relatively pointless. Which ones are legit and which are fixed?
 
Khabib fought a 0-0 guy in his 15th fight. Almost as bad, a 1-1 guy in his 13th fight, a 0-2 guy in his 12th fight.

How can an undefeated guy get matched against such inexperienced cans this late in his professional career? Moreoever how can an inexperienced opponent (and his coach/manager) accept such a mismatch?

It points to shenanigans, fixed fights, guys paid to show up and lose. Therefore analysing his early career is relatively pointless. Which ones are legit and which are fixed?
As stated, this thread is not about records, but skillset showcased during sequences inside the fights.

Otherwise, I would have only dropped here their wiki record...Would you have been satisfied with this kind of 'analysis' ?

Assessing a fighter´s career can be a pleasure since it can lead to discover unknown and hidden fighters, and legit skillsets.
 
Khabib fought a 0-0 guy in his 15th fight. Almost as bad, a 1-1 guy in his 13th fight, a 0-2 guy in his 12th fight.

How can an undefeated guy get matched against such inexperienced cans this late in his professional career? Moreoever how can an inexperienced opponent (and his coach/manager) accept such a mismatch?

It points to shenanigans, fixed fights, guys paid to show up and lose. Therefore analysing his early career is relatively pointless. Which ones are legit and which are fixed?
Most of the Russian fighters who on the surface appear to be 0-0 rookies that are only there to pad a record or two, are actually Sambo athletes with years and years of active high level competition behind them, and if not Sambo competition specifically, more than likely hail from another martial art competition background like Sanda or straight up wrestling.

It's very rare for a martial artist from the Caucasus region to make his combat sports debut in actual MMA.
 
As stated, this thread is not about records, but skillset showcased during sequences inside the fights.

Otherwise, I would have only dropped here their wiki record...Would you have been satisfied with this kind of 'analysis' ?

Assessing a fighter´s career can be a pleasure since it can lead to discover unknown and hidden fighters, and legit skillsets.
Which opponents are putting up genuine resistance? Which fights are fixed?

This question must be answered before performing any skillset analysis. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

If there was one odd matchup in 15 fights....okay, we can overlook it. But there are multiple mismatches. Fights that make no sense - why would a debuting fighter accept an undefeated 14-0 opponent? The likely explanation is that he was paid to show up and get beaten.
 
Which opponents are putting up genuine resistance? Which fights are fixed?

This question must be answered before performing any skillset analysis. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

If there was one odd matchup in 15 fights....okay, we can overlook it. But there are multiple mismatches. Fights that make no sense - why would a debuting fighter accept an undefeated 14-0 opponent? The likely explanation is that he was paid to show up and get beaten.
tbh, technically... Im pretty sure Khabib was paid peanuts for these fights (Russian Orgs), so how was he gonna pay those dudes to take a dive?

On a sidenote, it can be an opportunity for you to dig deeper into their career, and acknowledge whether they indeed had a legit skillset/potential or not.
 
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@gono btw

You're one of the best posters around. Keep these threads coming, they're among the most interesting this place sees.
 
You also have a propensity for posting about my favorite era (mostly pre-Zuffa). I'm attracted to threads about the old days like a moth to a light. Those vale tudo threads are extremely insightful. It's hard to find a lot of info on that stuff. I appreciate that you take the time.
 
You also have a propensity for posting about my favorite era (mostly pre-Zuffa). I'm attracted to threads about the old days like a moth to a light. Those vale tudo threads are extremely insightful. It's hard to find a lot of info on that stuff. I appreciate that you take the time.
The transition from the Vale Tudo scene to Modern MMA is actually fascinating... They were building the game, building teams...
 
reading this thread will take longer than the connor vs khabibi fight
 
The transition from the Vale Tudo scene to Modern MMA is actually fascinating... They were building the game, building teams...
If you've never read this book, you might find it interesting. It's a bit dated now, but it is a nice guide to everything that led to the present. Don't be deterred by "Ultimate Fighting" being in the title, it is very well written and extremely informative on the history of modern fighting.

Total MMA: Inside Ultimate Fighting
 
1st of all, bear in mind that I said it was a tough fight to score, got it? No hobbery, but depends on your...MMA 'ideology', as I said.

Now you´re arguin´with me without a clear knowledge of the fight... Difficult, right?

Note: if you think about it, since Pankration Atrium Cup had such a trigger-happy stand-up rule (even when Khabib had side control), makes consequently lil sense to reward ground control, imo...

About the premises: this thread tries to go beyond clichés, you obviously only pay attention to fighters´ record, while Im interested in their skillset primarily, since MMA opportunities for them (as Russians or Eastern Europeans) were scarce.

I suggest you try to dig a lil, try to watch their [rare] fights and see their potential. Some of them had interesting skillset and legit potential, but depends on you to make the effort to acknowledge it.

How do I have little knowledge of the fight? Both of us have the video to go by and I am not seeing this fight for the first time either.

As for your assumption that Pankration didn't reward ground control, why did Khabib win the fight then? It was obviously scored based on ground control genious. Ref could have stood them up due to his personal preference like we've seen refs in ufc do at times.

What exactly did you give Magomedov the fight for? Two thigh kicks and a barely noticable submission attempt?
 
people are saying his record has even been padded in the UFC. the guy's undefeated, has an aura of invincibility and now holds a belt. he's been fighting with a target on his back in the UFC for awhile, and no one's been able to do anything about it. prior to Al taking the chance on the short notice fight in Brooklyn, he expressed in no uncertain terms that Khabib was the least desirable match-up on the roster. Anyone saying Khabib's walk to where he is now has been paved and lubed for him, is likely over-committed to the hyperbole in anticipation of his biggest fight against his most charismatic opponent.
The guy got a title by fighting #11 because he can't make weight ironically enough when he's supposed to fight contenders
 
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