Khabib Nurmagomedov needs that BJJ Black Belt.

- International Master of Sports in Sambo
- Black Belt in Judo
- International Master of Sports in Pankration
- International Master of Sports in Hand-to-Hand combat
- Russian National Level in Freestyle Wrestling.

Khabib is a grappling beast. Nightmare to a lot of strikers. Can be considered as the best Grappler in the UFC, if not, definitely in the top 3 or 5.

But its not hard to see that something is missing in Khabib's tools. Its the BJJ and ground control. This is known for Sambo practitioners that ground control is not our best tool because we focus so much on throwing our opponent down. And you see this perfectly when Khabib is in the cage, because usually the story of the fight is watching him throw his opponent down, his opponent finds a way to get back to his feet only to get thrown down again, and we get this for 15 mins.

I'd like to see Khabib invest his time in BJJ, I know Leandro Vieira teaches BJJ over at AKA, and I hope Khabib is not skipping classes thinking it's too easy.

Just like Askren did, he was an elite wrestler, who added BJJ to his arsenal. Now he is a Brown Belt in BJJ, who not only will take your ass down to the ground but he will keep you there and work on passing guards and setting up a submission. Ben Askren is no fucking joke at 170, when Dana will take the stick out of his ass and sign this guy, he will be getting a title shot in not too long.

If Khabib gets really serious with his BJJ game, this kid will really be unstoppable.

 

cool story, bro

 

He let's his opponents up so he can toss them again. He isn't trying to hold them down, someone of his pedigree could hold people down if he wanted.

Not sure how you can't grasp that after listing all those accomplishments.

You think BJJ is better at pinning than wrestling and Sambo!?!???!

Problem isn't his ability, problem is your viewing his game through BJJ tinted glasses, IMO.

 

BJJ teaches better pins than sambo, wrestling, and judo???

 

Fedor kept people down with his wrestling ability and brutal G'N'P. You don't need BJJ to keep people on the ground - you just need better wrestling.

 

Yes BJJ is better than Sambo at keeping your opponents down and passing guard, that's not hard to see. I'm not talking about pinning here, I'm talking about having solid top game. Go watch BJJ tournaments, then go watch Sambo tournaments, their is a huge difference in the way they fight. No BJJ tinted glasses here, I train Sambo, don't train BJJ, tho I've fought guys who are very good in Jujitsu and I can tell you that they put a lot more attention to ground game, where as we put a lot more attention on throws.

I think a Khabib who can keep his opponent on the ground and work on a submission will be a better fighter.

 

TS is a sambo dude, in case you didnt noticed.

And the ability to pin someone means jack shit in mma, TS is probably talking about the ability to move while staying on top... if you try to pin someone, ref is going to stand you up.

by the way, where do you get he lets his opponents down to throw them back to the ground? why waste that much energy? got a source of his fighting approach? will be interesting to read about it.

 

untill he faced some real good ground fighters, besides Nog, he didnt really beat anyone good on the ground...(by the way he lost to arona)

 

beat me to it....

 

I agree totally on the idea that Khabib could use better control on the ground. Although I can see the other poster's point about letting guys up so he can throw them again. But Im not so sure BJJ is the best bet for this. There is no doubt BJJers can, and usually do, have great ground control and can tie guys up. But I would think the absolute best grappling sport for ground control is American folk style wrestling which rewards ground control much much more than the olympic styles. You mentioned Askren and oddly enough he has the folk style and the BJJ but hes so much folk style in the cage. Think about a prime Sherk, prime Fitch, Shields, prime Diego, Lesnar, these guys were folk style guys who were brutal on top and awesome scramblers as well. Then you see Yoel Romero and other freestylers who can dump u all day but dont keep u down.

 

Finally someone who knows shit

 

Complains that MMA rules and scoring favor wrestlers. Says that Fedor lost against Arona.

 

I can't remember which fight of his it was, but he got reversed a couple of times off a takedown and immediately threw up some super slick triangles from guard. Don't know if he learned that elsewhere, but he's definitely got some serious MMA jiu-jitsu if not outright BJJ.

 

Khabib doesnt lets them standup, but Khabib is not someone who would just lay and pray.

Khabib opponents can escape because Khabib never stops attacking, when you attack you are diminishing control.

You see a lot of control in BJJ matches because BJJ matches are decided almost entirely on points nowadays, if you are ahead on points its stupid to go for submissions, and since you need a better position to go for submissions then usually nobody is going for them (high level BJJ, not mismatches).

Im pretty sure Khabib could lay and pray his way to a secure victory, but he decides to go for the finishes instead.

 

The Trujillo fight I think. They were decent triangles. I dont remember how fast he secured them or if he ever got the foot behind the knee, but your right as soon as he hit his back he was thinking attack.

 

He trains at AKA if he isnt training straigth BJJ he is rolling with a lot of BJJ guys and picking it up anyway.

Anyway i think he is going the Chael Sonnen "i dont play jiujitsu" character

 

wrestlers? you got it wrong, while in some part I do believe it favors (the point scoring) my beef is with mma rules favoring strikers not grapplers.

 

which is exactly what TS is saying, he loses way too many positions while attacking...

 

Everyone loses position while attacking, not just Khabib.

People just point Khabib because he isnt a lay and pray guy like most strict grapplers in the UFC.

 

And RINGs was a promotion where sub attempts and strikes trumped positional control, and you are complaining Fedor lost when he was the only one close to finishing the fight.