"Khabib Only Fought Strikers"

[jsbx45]

Khabibi is the LW GOAT in my opinion. Doesn't mean he didn't leave some question marks by not fighting more strong wrestlers. Would have been nice to see him against FKL or GG at some point.

 

[markg171]

He's a classic sprawl and brawler who uses d1 wrestling to stuff opponents and knock them out. It's not an opinion. It's a fact. Like Chuck, or Carwin for example.

To be a sprawl and brawl type fighter people have to want to be taking you down in the first place so you develop a sprawl to force them to strike with you instead. That's not remotely Justin. Nobody's being forced to strike with him, people are perfectly fine that. Justin reacts poorly to pressure, very often throws technique out the window, and doesn't have a great chin. He shines when people are stupid enough to give him space and negate all those flaws. It's why everybody's striking with him willingly, not forced to, as there's a clear but dangerous path to victory. All of his losses and hardest fights, barring Khabib, come from him doing poorly in the standup.

By contrast people legitimately didn't want to strike with Chuck because he was the best striker, had huge power, and had a legendary chin. The path to victory there was extraordinarily slim. Once the chin was cracked a lot and the confidence (blow) was gone more people stopped worrying about striking with him.

 

[AndrewGolota48]

Khabibi is the LW GOAT in my opinion. Doesn't mean he didn't leave some question marks by not fighting more strong wrestlers. Would have been nice to see him against FKL or GG at some point.

I'm not the highest Khabib defender, but he slaughters those two particular guys, especially FKL because he would just break his will. Gillespie could've been interesting for like a round though.

It's weird that Khabib never even faced a Bendo or an Alvarez, not the greatest wrestlers but very difficult fighters to hold down and tire out, that could also strike.

Prime Gray Maynard vs Khabib would've been very interesting but Maynard was way past it by the time Khabib established himself.

 

[rjmbrd]

Do you understand the concept of what a sprawl and brawler is? It boggles my mind that watching MMA this long that you don't know about the Chuck Liddell's, Shane Carwin's and Justin Gaethje who are great at using to their wrestling to avoid getting taken down and scramble to their feet so they can keep the fight standing.

That train left the station years ago. The best guys like Islam and Toporia aren't just good at sprawling, but have sophisticated ground fighting to go along with their striking.

JG is broadly speaking terrible at offensive MMA grappling. That is why you see him get clowned on the mat.

Setting all that aside 205/265 have HALF the roster depth, or less, compared with the lighter weight divisions. We've shuffled around single skill old farts up there for years because the pay is so bad. You could never compete with such low skill and athleticism below 185, so Carwin and Liddell make poor corollaries.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Liddell actually used his wrestling offensively when he fought other strikers. He could pin guys against the cage and steal rounds with takedowns. Off the top of my head he used wrestling against Metzger, Silva, and Overeem. I think he tried to slowdown Rampage in their first fight with wrestling too, though I don't quite remember.

That isn't anything like what Gaethje does. Gaethje only bangs, even if he's getting out banged (pause). Gaethje is not a grappler in the slightest.

 

[Alpha_T83]

None of the mentioned fighters are standout wrestlers looking at their MMA careers. The LW division hasn't had any standout wrestlers for a long time, save for Khabib and Islam.

Agreed. I also don't like how the argument is framed. Saying "Khabib only fought strikers" is disingenuous because it ignores the fact that Khabib never fought anyone with championship level wrestling, even though some of the opponents he fought weren't "only strikers". Gaethje is a good wrestler, and I would consider him a championship level fighter, but it wasn't his wrestling that made him championship level. Not to the same degree that wrestling made Sonnen championship level vs Silva, for example.

In fact I don't think Khabib ever even fought anyone as good as Arman Tsarukyan at wrestling. So as far as I'm concerned, Islam will surpass Khabib if he defeats Arman next.

 

[ejazahmednit]

People forget what he did to Pat Healy
Dude was a huge LW with a grappling based offense

 

[jsbx45]

I'm not the highest Khabib defender, but he slaughters those two particular guys, especially FKL because he would just break his will. Gillespie could've been interesting for like a round though.

It's weird that Khabib never even faced a Bendo or an Alvarez, not the greatest wrestlers but very difficult fighters to hold down and tire out, that could also strike.

Prime Gray Maynard vs Khabib would've been very interesting but Maynard was way past it by the time Khabib established himself.

Agree that it would have been better if he fought more top guys, more wrestlers too. He got out on top though and I respect him for that. Too many of these guys hold on to the dream for too long.