How many other people in the UFC took Gaethje down and held him there?
That's kind of a silly question. The vast majority of his fights in the UFC weren't against anyone who would be likely to do that. The two that would take him down finished him pretty quickly on the ground. You aren't going to sell that he was some great wrestler on an MMA resume. D1 isn't all that meaningful in MMA and hasn't been for a long time. Olives and Khabib made him look pretty weak on the ground.
The overhype of Gaethje's wrestling is so illogical. If he was such a good wrestler, why the hell wouldn't he utilize it when he has faced strikers in 99% of his UFC fights? It's not like his striking is unstoppable; 4 of his 5 losses are because his chin let him down and he's been rocked countless times. Mixing in wrestling could have made him FAR more successful but oh no... he is saving that secret weapon for his 40s apparently
Khabib just happened to know about it and wanted to test himself against the secret grappling master who has 0 career wins by submission. That's how good Khabib is guys... he would do the same thing to Prime GSP, no doubt about it!
Yeah it's getting him to the ground and keeping him there that's the problem.
Justin Gaethje could have been an olympic gold medalist for all I care... this is MMA. At no point in ANY of his UFC fights did he display ANY level of grappling ability and we've seen countless competitors with elite credentials have their skills not translate at all into MMA. Should Fedor be credited as the best MMA striker of all time because he sat in Semmy Schilt's guard for 20 minutes? Does Ben Rothwell become a K1 calibre kickboxer because he KO'd Reem who KO'd Badri Hari?? Of course not.
Gaethje is a striker who overcommits to strikes frequently and has faced nothing but fellow strikers in his career just to set up entertaining brawls. The minute he fought someone who was a threat to him on the ground, he was tapping like there's no tomorrow. If this is the best MMA Grappler you can come up with, wow you are desperate.
Also, genuine LOL @ the hype of RDA who struggled with wrestlers HIS ENTIRE UFC CAREER. Should Tyson Griffin be listed as one of the best MMA grapplers of all time considering he was actually able to keep RDA down without the fight getting stood up unlike Khabib? How about Michael Chiesa??
Khabib can't control who the top contenders were in his brief time as champion but the fact remains that he was in the UFC for a decade and missed out on the majority of the top fighters from 2 completely different eras. He blanketed RDA and then sat on the shelf for 2 YEARS skyrocketing up the rankings while absorbing the hype of RDA's success despite them being 2 completely different styles of fighters.
So Khabib comes back, is comfortably ranked in the top 5, and he fights.... a UFC newcomer? Then Michael Freakin Johnson who was outgrappled by Jonathan "Vision Quest" Brookins and never beat a top 10 opponent again for the rest of his career? He had one of the easiest runs to the title OF ALL TIME and people are right to criticize him.
Benson Henderson, Eddie Alvarez, Charles Oliveira, Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Josh Thompson, Gilbert Melendez, Gilbert Burns, Michael Chandler hell even Clay Guida and Kevin Lee would skyrocket up his list of best MMA grapplers ever faced. I'm sure glad we saw one dimensional strikers like Edson Barboza and Al Iaquinta fight Khabib instead of literally any of these other possible opponents I mean wow... we learned so much that we didn't already know from these match-ups!
I can soundly believe that Khabib would just default out-wrestle anyone who ever lived because styles don't matter in MMA at all and some fighters can't be beaten because they wear funny hats and wrestled bears growing up!Who cares how awkward and amateurish his striking looked, bears guys! He wrestled bears!
I think you need to rewatch the Olives fight.
That's getting a little carried away though.
Yeah Charles dropped him with a punch and when Justin tried to get back up he got RNC'ed.
lol OK
It amazes me that people really don't get that the key to beating Gaethje is to pressure him despite literally all of his losses and hard fights having occurred that way.The overhype of Gaethje's wrestling is so illogical. If he was such a good wrestler, why the hell wouldn't he utilize it when he has faced strikers in 99% of his UFC fights? It's not like his striking is unstoppable; 4 of his 5 losses are because his chin let him down and he's been rocked countless times. Mixing in wrestling could have made him FAR more successful but oh no... he is saving that secret weapon for his 40s apparently
Islam struggled immensely to grapple with Poirier while Khabib blew him out easily.
What grapplers did Gaethje fight in the UFC? Gaethje grabbed the cage like crazy against Firmino.
I don’t know about that, Dustin Poirier took down Gaethje without resistance non whatsoever on their fight, he didn’t hold him down but I’ve always believed Gaethje is overrated, from his wrestling down to his striking. He just doesn’t impress me and wasn’t shock Khabib finished him. I’m not saying he wasn’t a good win for Khabib, but Gaethje wrestling is extremely suspect.
