Khabib's interview in Russian. Says he lacked motivation for his fights with Iaquinta, Conor etc.

[Ackmed]

Speaking of Artem, to this day has anyone asked him why, he eat slap??

 

[Verace]

Shoot the fooooook oooooop

This guy is becoming more of a diva every second that goes by

 

[MescalineDreams]

Different kinds of motivation. Khabib had personal business to settle but never saw Conor as a challenge.

Tony on the other hand has always been what Khabib called his "dream fight" or "toughest challenge".

To me, it seems like Khabib wanted to get the Conor fight over with and move past that drama. Meanwhile, Tony is a fight he has been desperately trying to make for YEARS. Makes sense to be more motivated for Tony.

Even his coach at aka seen conor as a big threat, so did DC. They knew conor was a big challenge just because hes one of the most dangerous boxers /counter fighters in LW / ufc history. Along with having power to end fights if allowed to land with accuracy.

Theres a reason why he emphasized improving his boxing and defense so much and also outside shots. It's clear that his team both on the Russian end and AKA are extremely intelligent and trained flawlessly to improve some of the holes in Khabib's game which have left him open in the past.

Khabib doesn't get his opponents out of there right away. It takes time for his pressure to physically and mentally wear down his opponents to where he can get the finish. In that time there are openings to land strikes. For that reason, Conor was potentially his most dangerous stylistic opponent at the time, especially coming off a fight in pro boxing where presumably his hands would even be more finely tuned.

Whether that happened or not, Khabib and his team were prepared for the worst and it would be silly not to be for a fight on that level and event of that magnitude. Its ridiculous to think they didn't see him as a challenge. They're way too smart to not be fully aware of everything conors style was potentially bringing to the table

Javier even after the fact said he thinks conor is still the most dangerous fight for Khabib in the division. Most people just seen this as wanting another big money fight but there's more truth to that statement than it appears.

The reason being is, Conor is probably the most impressive boxer and striker in the divisions history, his counter fighting prowess, distance, range management and frame control are probably among the best we've seen in mma at his best.

Khabib could beat him 5 times in a row and conor would still be the fighter with some of the highest potential to catch him with something significant. For that reason, there will never be a point that Khabib doesn't see his style as a challenge regardless of what is said.