How good is Khabib's striking? [video]

Khabib's striking is nearly on the same level of Israel Adesanya's imo. Perfect technique
 
Ok. So you’ve made an honest analysis of his striking. Cool. And when confronted with a differing opinion of someone who was in the cage with him, you are faced with two choices: work that different opinion into your hypothesis, or dismiss the opinion.

I was working with you thinking you’d do the former.

Apparently you’ve chosen to do the latter.

I suppose he’s just a dirty fucking liar, eh?
Super confused about how this went off the rails. I'm not even sure what we disagree about. I thought we were just having a conversation. Didn't mean to dismiss you.
 
You didn’t dismiss me. You dismissed Al I.
Oh gotcha!
Yeah I could easily be wrong. I just feel that there was something strange about the way he got jabbed like that. I remember Khabib kind of turning his hand sideways as if to question why he was just eating them.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Al was lazer-focused whenever they were on the feet. I think he was almost ignoring Khabib's striking because the punches weren't terribly hard and he was just trying to time his own big shot.

I'm not dismissing Al. I just don't see him eating all those shots as a function of Khabib's unorthodoxy or skill (which I think he has shown at other points).

FWIW I really like Al
 
Everybody is right, his standup is below average. The thing is fighters fear him on the ground and overcompensate for preventing take downs and despite pretty poor technique he does hit hard.

The fight is truly a grappler vs striker matchup in the purest form. I would expect Khabib to immediately work takedowns or attempt to putt Conor against the cage and attempt to grind him out. If he thinks he can start out kickboxing and resort to takedowns later I think he's getting his lights shut off. Conversely, I think if Khabib gets McGregor down he gets dominant position and just punishes him and maybe even gets a submission.

This fight is fucking crazy.
I'd put his stand up as average based on his good defense.
 
I re-watched all of Khabib's fights yesterday and had mixed feelings about his striking. A lot of people talk shit about it, and it's definitely not especially clean, but I also think there's something very effective about his unique style.
What do you guys think?


Iaquinta said:
“His standup was really good. I felt like I was a step behind him, just from the first two rounds of trying to get up and stay against the cage, he was kind of wearing on me a little bit. So I felt a little behind, but his jab is good. Every time I tried to let so combos go, he’s awkward, he’s got like the Russians — it’s just a different style of boxing. They were saying he’s got his head up. I connect with everybody. ... It was hard to get to him. He’s tough, he’s tough. He’s got his own style. He’s awkward. Maybe it doesn’t look like it from the outside, but, he’s definitely, he’s fucking tough man. I knew we had a mutual respect on the standup when it was going back and forth, he was definitely worried about my power shots. But he kept me away with his jab and his movement was a little awkward and good.”

If you watch the fight, Iaquinta didn't seem to be reacting to Khabib's jabs AT ALL. I like Iaquinta, but I don't put much stock into his judgment tbh.

Throwing 5 jabs ina row isnt good striking, its an short notice opponent terrified of the TD. The one time khabib got tagged by southpaw MJ, he was backing up straight and looked uncomfortable. Not oressuring through and going for a TD like people say he will do vs Conor.
 
He’s good at catching guys with his uppercut when he gets them leaning forward to defend a takedown. Clearly a part of it is that the opponents are worried about getting taken down, and it’s not pretty, but he throws hard and it seems to work for him.
 
Last edited:
Anyone that says it’s anything but rudimentary has no clue. It will only work against guys that aren’t efficient strikers themselves. Watch how he lunges forward with that uppercut.......his hands are down. Watch how he lunches forward with jabs, his Def hand is down. He does that against Connor he is going Night night. Whenever I see a fighter with his hands down when throwing or circling, I wonder how good the coaching is....it’s striking 101....
So if his def is so bad, why have we never seen a solid shot connect? Never even as much as a bloddy nose. He has faced several good strikers.. But it didnt matter. Conor is the best striker he has faced.. No doubt. That ssid conor has to constantly worry about being taken down. His lead leg is close to khabibs right arm being a southoaw, which makes it less distance for khabib and easier to shoot. The reach advantage is there for conor, but so was it vs chad.. And chad landed several good shots and even busted conor open..in addition to taking him down 4x. Khabibs gas is far better than chads was in that fight. I expect khabib to pressure and take conor down pretty easily.
 
He's been hit by some solid shots. The most significant was
So if his def is so bad, why have we never seen a solid shot connect? Never even as much as a bloddy nose. He has faced several good strikers.. But it didnt matter. Conor is the best striker he has faced.. No doubt. That ssid conor has to constantly worry about being taken down. His lead leg is close to khabibs right arm being a southoaw, which makes it less distance for khabib and easier to shoot. The reach advantage is there for conor, but so was it vs chad.. And chad landed several good shots and even busted conor open..in addition to taking him down 4x. Khabibs gas is far better than chads was in that fight. I expect khabib to pressure and take conor down pretty easily.
These guys remember Khabib getting hit by MJ


Iaquinta hit him a few times also
 
Khabib has really bad striking defense. He'll get tagged if he stays in front of Conor too long.
 
Iaquinta has a good hands, and look what happened to him when standing against Khabib.
472

Listen to his interview on mmafighting about what he thought about his fight against Khabib, it sums up the situation pretty well.

Khabib outstrikes everybody he fights, it's because he mixes it up so well. Not that i think it's a good idea to stand too long with Conor.
 
Gassed McGregor is one of the worst strikers I've ever seen. Loses all power and defense and stumbles around like a drunk.

If Khabib gasses Conor early he could very well fuck him up on the feet.

Especially considering Conor will have to adjust his stance to defend the takedown.

I think Khabib will just spam singles and chain wrestle all night though.

nate-cuts-off-the-cage-comp.gif

giphy.gif

giphy.gif


$


z70D5Jx.gif


UepSTfZ.gif


this is like the 3rd time i've seen this exact post from you.


you legit have an unhealthy obsession with conor, get help.
 
Whenever I see a fighter with his hands down when throwing or circling, I wonder how good the coaching is....it’s striking 101....

MMA, yes. It is not near as uncommon in Boxing. In fact, there are really few seriously skilled Boxers that do NOT practice avoiding head shots with head movement, even occasionally binding the fighters arms in the lower position so that they CANNOT use their hands to block. Great head movement in Boxing REQUIRES that they learn to defend head shots with hands down!

Not sure if you do not consider Boxing (striking) but, Boxing 101.
 
MMA, yes. It is not near as uncommon in Boxing. In fact, there are really few seriously skilled Boxers that do NOT practice avoiding head shots with head movement, even occasionally binding the fighters arms in the lower position so that they CANNOT use their hands to block. Great head movement in Boxing REQUIRES that they learn to defend head shots with hands down!

Not sure if you do not consider Boxing (striking) but, Boxing 101.

Very few MMA fighters have good head movement. But I would say most boxers do keep their hands up as well. Some don’t need to because of their speed and movement. Maybe only a prime Anderson had that skill. Most MMA fighters eat punches. Bisping is almost bling because of it.
 
Rogan is such a moron. "...this is already very disappointing..." ...as Khabib is schooling a strawberry-faced Iaquinta with his boxing.

<{walkerwhut}>
 
Very few MMA fighters have good head movement. But I would say most boxers do keep their hands up as well. Some don’t need to because of their speed and movement. Maybe only a prime Anderson had that skill. Most MMA fighters eat punches. Bisping is almost bling because of it.
Bas wasn't bad with head movement, but I do not recall him dropping his hands often.

Wladimir Klitschko quite frequently fought with his hands below his waist as a norm. Even taller Tyson Fury had his hands behind his back making the usually laser accurate miss for 12 rounds straight.
It is hard to remember the last opponent of Mayweather that he DID NOT go out of his way to put his hands down, and make his opponent look amateurish unable to make clean contact on his head. Mayweather also is one of the best at using shoulder rolls to avoid headshots. Many other fighters also use this technique to avoid headshots without using their hands (defensively). This allows for much better counter punching where there is no grappling to worry about.
 
He's been hit by some solid shots. The most significant was

These guys remember Khabib getting hit by MJ


Iaquinta hit him a few times also


Sure he gets hit in a fight. He doesn't however get rocked or cut or effected is the point. Everyone gets hit. Even anderson who was master of bob and weave. We dont know how a conor left will effect him. Ive seen quite a few people take it and keep fighting tho. This leads me to believe that khabib will also be able to take a few. Al also said he couldnt hit him when he hits everyone. Khabib is good at deflecting stuff with his arms and shoulders. His def game seems pretty solid, so until i see otherwise i will consider him a good striker as far as defending goes. Watching some of his pre ufc fights, he had a lot more head movement etc. We will have to wait and see which khabib fights vonor, but i fully expect him to close the distance, get conor moving backwards and take him down. Its a given almost that conor wont be able to get back to his feet after a round or two. Maybe not even in the 1st. I know khabib wont go for a weak dub and give up position like chad did. Cant wait to see the fight, where we will see who is really the best lw on the roster.
 
Back
Top