Khabib is the mma grappling savior.

[dmwalking]

Best mma grappler in the game right now.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Best mma grappler in the game right now.

He looks beastly...insane pressure, I would’ve liked to see him finish the fight though...

 

[Calibur]

The new old Fedor.

 

[SummerStriker]

The way he was trapping the legs and crawling after him, throwing punches, was crazy.

 

[vcmmafan]

He needs to work on his striking and setting up takedowns with strikes

 

[tekkenfan]

hes the best mma grappler we have ever seen he isnt afraid to get in there and get dirty to get that takedown his striking looked a little better this time as well

 

[Foxflechette57]

He needs to work on his striking and setting up takedowns with strikes

still take everybody down, akward but efficient

 

[biscuitsbrah]

How would him and Maia play out if they met at 170

 

[INTERL0PER]

How would him and Maia play out if they met at 170

It would be glorious.

Maia would probably have a pretty serious size advantage, so I would think he would have the advantage... But Khabib's wrestling is definitely stronger.

Super intriguing fight.

I agree with Calibur. Watching Khabib really reminds me of Prime Fedor.

 

[Bjoern]

Actually I feel he is quite the opposite of Fedor.
Khabib is really going with no fancy stuff for controlling the clinch, getting it to the ground and controlling and trapping people on the ground. Like Barboza who nearly couldn´t move at all.

Fedor was just going with the chaos not holding or slowing things down but delivering punches while being in the flow and chaos of the fight. That what makes him so dangerous. Remember when he fought Minotauro and didn´t really pass his guard or controlling him but fired his punches into the guard going with the flow of moves.

Both are great but I feel very different.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

I think calibur is just being funny... Khabib fights toatally different than Fedor... fedor wasn’t a grappling machine, he was a beast, but he wasn’t constantly looking to take the fight to the ground and keep it there by wrestling control, it wsd more like, take down and beat the living shit out of people there, basically staying in guard delivig gnp. This was when he faced good grapplers, Khabib control and grappling overall is in another level...

 

[vcmmafan]

still take everybody down, akward but efficient

I'm very excited about his skill when he gets to the ground

 

[Coconutwater]

What works so well for Khabib is that he has a sense of urgency on his feet. He strikes solely to disrupt his opponent, drive him back toward the fence and take his opponent down.

Contrast this with an exaggerated polar opposite in Nate Diaz who, when his opponent runs away, simply walks after him instead of hunting him down quickly.

Khabib gobbles up the space between himself and his opponent by running after him with a raised guard, and jab. He’s still very open to side kicks, teeps and counters upstairs but his bumrush style makes it hard to be planted and or accurate.

I personally think Conor has a good chance of beating Khabib since Conor uses kicks to disrupt rhythm and distance long enough to time a well placed left counter shot. Edson threw low kicks which doesn’t prevent closing of the distance well.

Lastly, I think a lot of Khabib’s opponents respect him too much, that combined with a good chin makes all his opponents fight scared. That said, the credit must be given to Khabib for at least fighting in such a way that emphasizes urgency and suffocating pressure while keeping his right glove planted firmly against his chin - Obvious, but smart move.

A fight between Conor and Khabib would be fun to watch and I give Khabib a 65% chance of winning, which is much less than most people think.

I can’t stand the UFC’s politics regarding Conor but truth be told, Conor’s timing, accuracy and left hand causes people tons of problems, regardless of his crap cardio and limited arsenal of skills.

 

[Zankou]

Somewhat similar to Maia in his use of suffocatingly close space, although Maia has horrible gnp.

I think a lot of mma athletes do themselves a disservice by working on a striking game that is premised on ‘proper’ range and rhythm ... the type you use in striking sparring.

If you don’t keep that classic space and rhythm, it is much more difficult for a striker to counter. There is a middle ground between mindlessly shooting and moving through basic striking in-out patterns. A lot of strong grapplers would benefit from collapsing that space *without* forcibly shooting or clinching.

 

[Coconutwater]

Somewhat similar to Maia in his use of suffocatingly close space, although Maia has horrible gnp.

I think a lot of mma athletes do themselves a disservice by working on a striking game that is premised on ‘proper’ range and rhythm ... the type you use in striking sparring.

If you don’t keep that classic space and rhythm, it is much more difficult for a striker to counter. There is a middle ground between mindlessly shooting and moving through basic striking in-out patterns. A lot of strong grapplers would benefit from collapsing that space *without* forcibly shooting or clinching.

I think the first step in doing so is actually being able to hold your own at striking (being able to maintain distance) which everyone in non-grappling arts observe. Once you actually can strike and don’t freak out with incoming punches, closing distance rapidly isn’t so frightening a prospect unlike watching the Gracie’s in the early 90’s who knew they couldnt afford a striking exchange and wisely stayed a mile away.

 

[Zankou]

I think the first step in doing so is actually being able to hold your own at striking (being able to maintain distance) which everyone in non-grappling arts observe. Once you actually can strike and don’t freak out with incoming punches, closing distance rapidly isn’t so frightening a prospect unlike watching the Gracie’s in the early 90’s who knew they couldnt afford a striking exchange and wisely stayed a mile away.

Yeah but maintaining distance is exactly what you don’t want to do as the superior grappler. You benefit from constantly disrupting the ‘proper’ distance and the ‘proper’ rhythm of engagement .... learning striking in a way that privileges maintaining an ideal striking distance can build bad habits and limit your options.

The Gracies had weak standup grappling so they were something of a different case relative to a guy like khabib or Maia. Much of the time they didn’t want to be clinching either. They only wanted to be on the ground.

I definitely agree about the value of learning striking, obviously, but am just saying that many grapplers learn a sort of basic robotic striking that kills their ability to apply consistent pressure in MMA.

 

[Necromantic]

It would be glorious.

Maia would probably have a pretty serious size advantage, so I would think he would have the advantage... But Khabib's wrestling is definitely stronger.

Super intriguing fight.

I agree with Calibur. Watching Khabib really reminds me of Prime Fedor.

Prime Fredo was a good striker so not really.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Yeah but maintaining distance is exactly what you don’t want to do as the superior grappler. You benefit from constantly disrupting the ‘proper’ distance and the ‘proper’ rhythm of engagement .... learning striking in a way that privileges maintaining an ideal striking distance can build bad habits and limit your options.

The Gracies had weak standup grappling so they were something of a different case relative to a guy like khabib or Maia. Much of the time they didn’t want to be clinching either. They only wanted to be on the ground.

I definitely agree about the value of learning striking, obviously, but am just saying that many grapplers learn a sort of basic robotic striking that kills their ability to apply consistent pressure in MMA.

I think what Maia did is ideal for such strong grappler. Of course being better at striking wouldn’t hurt either, Khabib is wrecking people, but the truth is, he has not faced a guy like twood, or Colby who couldn’t take down, I don’t know if such it exist in the lwd, he couldn’t do much to tibau though.

He’s safe at the lwd, I don’t think there’s a guy right now that can stop him, Conor is gong to get raped, his gas tank will not be enough for 3 rounds of Khabibs insane pressure, and his tdd is not stellar, he’s got the punchers chance though...

 

[georgegreece]

Khabib vs mcgregor

 

[ArtemV]

He looks beastly...insane pressure, I would’ve liked to see him finish the fight though...

Yah, agreed. It is cool seeing guys dominate fights, but finishing fights makes it more satisfying I guess.