Khabib's sick grappling (GIFs)

[mataleaos]

What people don't get about Tony Ferguson is that besides his dickish personality he has got a wrestling base and it's his strongest skill set. He just uses striking and unorthodox submissions because that's what he likes to do but I think the idea that Khabib is light years ahead of him and will just take him down at will is silly. Even super intellgient MMA analysts that are Khabib fanboys like Luke Thomas are saying that the Ferguson fight is not an easy one for Khabib.

My thing with Khabib is this. let's see. Yes he beat RDA and it was convincing. Besides that, he doesn't have a lot of top ten wins. If he's the future then we will see it. Same thing I said about Chris Weidman. And he showed it and proved it. If Khabib stays undefeated and keeps beating guys, then let's see it. I know I'm sounding like a hater but he just just had his first fight in 2 years and beat a guy at catch-weight making his UFC debut.

yes he looked like a monster in how he won and I don't think Ferguson walks through him.

And again I'm seeming like a massive hater but call it sub only or adcc rules or whatever. Favoring Khabib to beat Rafa Mendes isn't the craziest idea ever but it's also a lofty prediction to base on a darce choke against Leandro Vieira in 10 seconds of a rolling session.

In an ADCC finals match with Khabib and Rafa? He has a shot because the rules incentivize standing on the feet. Any other match they meet in a bracket and if you don't think Rafa Mendes is at least favored then you're kidding yourself.

 

[mataleaos]

under current adcc rules, I dont think so.

Which ADCC rules though? The finals match, or the other matches on the way there?

On the way to the finals you can pull guard at any point in the first half of the match and have any offense done to you without any points scored against you.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Which ADCC rules though? The finals match, or the other matches on the way there?

On the way to the finals you can pull guard at any point in the first half of the match and have any offense done to you without any points scored against you.

mostly the finals, although the -1 for guard pulling in the robin rounds still affect you after the first 5 minutes are done, and it is not easy to sub someone in 5 minutes when you are facing elite competition, specially if the other dude has a good game plan like avoid getting sub to outwrestle you in the points part.

 

[selfcritical]

Yadviga is omoplatish i suppose.

 

[mataleaos]

mostly the finals, although the -1 for guard pulling in the robin rounds still affect you after the first 5 minutes are done, and it is not easy to sub someone in 5 minutes when you are facing elite competition, specially if the other dude has a good game plan like avoid getting sub to outwrestle you in the points part.

I agree in theory. I just think you bet on the jockey and not the horse. That analogy might not be perfect in this situation. But I'm gonna bet on the guy that is a multiple time adcc champ over someone that's never stepped onto an adcc mat. Maybe Khabib could win adcc 3 times in a row and maybe he wouldn't even medal. I just don't like the logic of betting against someone with 90-100 matches since 2008 that has only lost to 3 individuals in that same time period (Cobrinha, Tanquinho, and Rodolfo).

I say again I think it's a somewhat silly fantasy match up since I don't see Khabib cutting down to 145 lbs/66 kg. I think Khabib doing the 169 lbs/77 kg category at adcc seems way more likely. Khabib missed weight by several pounds a couple of years ago in the ufc, for a 155 lbs fight. So he's gonna do adcc at 145 lbs now? I just don't see it.

Comparing Khabib at adcc to Kron/Ramos/Lepri/JT/Durinho/Tonon seem like way better fantasy match ups, since they're at similar weights.

 

[Boevik]

Yadviga is omoplatish i suppose.

yep, heard this one, also heard "reverse omoplata", "rolling omoplate", "samboplata".

 

[99]

Conor should have studied this thread. I did all this free scouting on Khabib's underrated striking (including his overhand right!), and Conor ignored it all.

You f***ed up a long time ago, bro.

In my opinion, Khabib's standup is criminally underrated. He's like a mini-Fedor, which is hardly surprising given that they're both combat sambo champs. Each of them lunge forward with awkward, looping punches that pressure their opponents into giving up takedowns.

This is not a style that would work well for most fighters. It takes a very specific kind of athleticism, combined with grappling so good that nobody wants to tie up with you. Fortunately, Khabib has both of those things in spades.

I'm sure Ferguson would do well if he could keep Khabib at range standing. But the whole point of the Fedor/Khabib approach is to avoid that kind of fight by staying out of range, then exploding into grappling distance.

Check out the similarities in their style:

Leaping left corkscrew punch

Big overhand right

Relentless pressure

Closing distance into rear body lock

Fight-ending two-hand flurries

Smooth punch-to-TD transition

Blitz attack into TD

 

[georgegreece]

Conor should have studied this thread. I did all this free scouting on Khabib's underrated striking (including his overhand right!), and Conor ignored it all.

You f***ed up a long time ago, bro.

Henderson did this too

 

[User9992]

Someone gonna get submitted soon.

 

[BJJ Coffee Drinker]

I agree Fedor and Khabib have similar styles, but I can see Khabib getting in trouble with good strikers where Fedor didn't for two reasons: other than CroCop, there weren't that many good HW strikers in PRIDE that Fedor had to deal with, whereas there are lots of them in the UFC LW division.

In PRIDE, he fought Semmy Schilt, Gary GOodridge, Mark Hunt. Outside of PRIDE, he fought Time Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Hong Man Choi, and Brett Rogers. All of whom are competent strikers, and more than half of them were outstruck by Fedor with a heavy standup gameplan mixed in with takedowns.

 

[NSchoke]

Gaethje is gonna sleep Khabib I think.

He seems like such a savage striker and he's a D1 wrestler. Khabib won't be able to take him down easy if/when he gets hit

 

[Zankou]

Gaethje is indeed a nightmare matchup for Khabib. Conor, for example, would actually pose more trouble on paper for Gaethje. Very curious to see how this one plays out.

 

[GoatArtemLobov]

How do you think Khabib will compare with top nogi grapplers in a submission-only no time limit match?

 

[randomg1t]

Gaethje is indeed a nightmare matchup for Khabib. Conor, for example, would actually pose more trouble on paper for Gaethje. Very curious to see how this one plays out.

i think he has the style to beat him. a strong wrestling background, pretty technical boxing by MMA standards and some real power in his strikes. the style to beat khabib is the wrestler turned boxer, who can keep it on the feet and light him up.

i'm not sure he's good enough at it, though. like koscheck had the perfect style to beat GSP, but wasn't good enough at it. i fear justin might stop a few takedown attempts, but will eventually hit the mat. and i honestly think if khabib gets him there, he will run through him. gaethje admits he's not good on the ground, and khabib's ground game is severely underrated.

there's rumours of a difficult weight cut and a possible staph infection... there may be some outside factors that turn the odds in gaethje's favor. but on paper, i expect khabib to eat some bombs on the way in, eventually grab a hold of justin, drag him to the mat and mop the floor with him.

 

[Zankou]

Koscheck didn’t have the perfect style for GSP. He was a worse striker and a worse grappler. His mma wrestling wasn’t even as good as GSP’s mma wrestling.

Gat has evolved into a superior striker. Anyone who destroys Ferguson standing has to be favored in that area. He doesn’t have the mma wrestling that khabib does, but he should have better defensive wrestling than anyone Khabib has gone up against so far.

 

[Kforcer]

He must be just trying to get a rise out of other grapplers, because it's obvious he has a ton of BJJ influence in his game, like what sambo guys are hitting omoplata sweeps?

Omoplatas are definitely not unknown to sambists. An omoplota variation that is a lot like a Kimura is vary popular in sport sambo. I think a lot of you guys are underestimating the high level of grappling present in sport sambo.

 

[Human Bass]

Omoplatas are definitely not unknown to sambists. An omoplota variation that is a lot like a Kimura is vary popular in sport sambo. I think a lot of you guys are underestimating the high level of grappling present in sport sambo.

Really depends. Sport Sambo doesnt allow chokes, so they can undestimate the threat of triangles, rnc and such. But yeah, it is a great base once the practionicer is aware of the holes to correct.

 

[Kforcer]

Really depends. Sport Sambo doesnt allow chokes, so they can undestimate the threat of triangles, rnc and such. But yeah, it is a great base once the practionicer is aware of the holes to correct.

I think it is a great grappling art, period. And if you see the people at the top of sport sambo, they are insanely high-level athletes. The pace they have to keep up, their mixture of submission offense, throws and wrestling ability is just awesome. I think people underrate it largely because they see more combat sambo guys rather than high-level sport sambists crossover. Sport sambo is no joke.

 

[mrsenor]

Well done

 

[shunyata]

Hespect.