Khabib vs bendo

S

SideKickPro24

Blue Belt
@Blue
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
762
Reaction score
121
May not be the most popular opinion on this forum. But I always though khabib got lucky in his era to fight against so many non wrestler/grapplers. Wins against Conor, Dustin, Johnson, barbosa, and to an extent gatche because he never uses his wrestling.

Those are all great stylistic matchups. But how would he fair against the old guard like Benson, Edgar, penn, guida, sanchez, etc. back in the day ufc seemed way more wrestler heavy.

I always though a prime bendo would give khabib hell. What y’all think?
 
SideKickPro24 said:
May not be the most popular opinion on this forum. But I always though khabib got lucky in his era to fight against so many non wrestler/grapplers. Wins against Conor, Dustin, Johnson, barbosa, and to an extent gatche because he never uses his wrestling.

Those are all great stylistic matchups. But how would he fair against the old guard like Benson, Edgar, penn, guida, sanchez, etc. back in the day ufc seemed way more wrestler heavy.

I always though a prime bendo would give khabib hell. What y’all think?
Click to expand...
It would have been a tough fight. 95% of the time when people ask me “what if so and so fought khabib”, my answer is “you’d be shocked how easy khabib would make it look”.

However when it comes to BJJ there’s such severe consequences for making a mistake. I’d give bendo a chance, however, I also believe that by the end of his career khabib developed a lot more than people realize. I think if he had kept going we’d see him become a knockout threat like usman..he was starting to get the timing on the feet, and he was fighting guys like Dustin and Justin who ALWAYS inflict damage on the feet.

It’s very similar to the tony fight it just wasn’t soured the way the tony fight was when he fought Justin
 
SideKickPro24 said:
May not be the most popular opinion on this forum. But I always though khabib got lucky in his era to fight against so many non wrestler/grapplers. Wins against Conor, Dustin, Johnson, barbosa, and to an extent gatche because he never uses his wrestling.

Those are all great stylistic matchups. But how would he fair against the old guard like Benson, Edgar, penn, guida, sanchez, etc. back in the day ufc seemed way more wrestler heavy.

I always though a prime bendo would give khabib hell. What y’all think?
Click to expand...
If Khabib fought these guys in their prime, here are my pics:

vs Bendo: would be competitive, but I slightly favor Khabib. I can't picture Bendo subbing him, and in a scramble heavy fight with some striking in between, I think Khabib pulls through.

vs Edgar: definitely Khabib. Edgar is great, but he's fighting at 135 for a reason. Khabib would be way too big and strong, but I think prime Edgar would fight to decision.

vs Guida: interesting fight, but Khabib wins by sub. Even at his best, Guida could be subbed, and Khabib would've been the best grappler Guida ever fought.

vs Sanchez: Sanchez by UD. People forget how good prime Sanchez was. In many ways, Khabib is reminiscent of a prime Diego. He wouldn't be subbed, he wouldn't be KOed, and his wrestling, grappling, and cardio would keep him in the fight for all five rounds.

Edit: Forgot to include Penn. I think Khabib destroys Penn. As talented as he used to be, Penn was ALWAYS a front runner, and he slowly crumbled when faced with adversity. There is no way that Khabib wouldn't make Penn doubt himself in a five round fight. Unless Penn hurts him really bad early in the fight, Khabib wins 99/100 times.
 
Last edited:
I think he would just be too physical for Bendo, and beat him up standing as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: G10
What about Bendo stylistically do you think would be a problem Khabib hasn't seen before?

Maybe he gets a toothpick to the eye but I bet he still out grapples bendo blind and wins by sub.
 
Khabib IS the wrestler/grappler, tf? Its his opponents job to get to that level
 
SideKickPro24 said:
May not be the most popular opinion on this forum. But I always though khabib got lucky in his era to fight against so many non wrestler/grapplers. Wins against Conor, Dustin, Johnson, barbosa, and to an extent gatche because he never uses his wrestling.

Those are all great stylistic matchups. But how would he fair against the old guard like Benson, Edgar, penn, guida, sanchez, etc. back in the day ufc seemed way more wrestler heavy.

I always though a prime bendo would give khabib hell. What y’all think?
Click to expand...
people will give you shit, because they dont know shit, but you're right. he's played it very safe and been given really good style matchups. just look at the tibau fight. tibau is not THAT good of a wrestler, never was, and that fight was basically a draw. I even think prime BJ Penn beats Khabib, despite being at a wrestling disadvantage.
 
I dunno, Benson is largely forgotten and people don't remember how tough an out he was, but I don't think his skillset would be particularly effective against Khabib, as I think Khabib would control the pace and put it on Benson.
Personally I think Prime BJ gives Khabib the toughest fight out of all those you listed. Iron chin, hit super hard for LW, very slick and tricky on the ground. Still favor Khabib tho.
 
I think one of the times Khabib took down Bendo and started smeshing him, Bendo would choke on his toothpick and it would be all over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

achoo42
How would you rank Pettis, RDA, Bendo, and Alvarez
3 4 5
Replies
87
Views
3K
achoo42
achoo42

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,992
Messages
55,459,864
Members
174,787
Latest member
Freddie556

Share this page

Back
Top