Media Poirier opens as a heavy underdog vs Khabib

[Grapplefest]

Barboza absolutely does not. He has lost or looked bad against every wrestler he has faced. There's nothing special about MJ's wrestling either. Neither of them are comfortable in prolonged grappling exchanges. Poirier is.

Factually their TDD before they fought Khabib was much higher than Poirier, even while fighting better wrestlers.

Also, Barboza has 7 losses, only 2 of them are against guys who primarily wrestled against him. He's beaten guys like Danny Castillo who has wrestle fucked the likes of Tony Ferguson, and yes, Dustin Poirier.

 

[Anaconda99]

Its interesting Fight cause Khabibs striking has improved immensely but its probably not to Dustins level. Khabib will take him down I think that's certain but Dustin has great BJJ and he will probably be on his back. I would say its 80 to 20 for Khabib, Dustin has a chance cause Khabib cant wrestle for 5 rounds its too taxing and the chance of gassing is there even if he has good cardio. So he will strike a fair amount and then we will see Khabib has never been rocked or knocked out, Dustin has power though. I want to see the fight we will learn a lot how they have improved.

 

[Anaconda99]

Al is a better grappler? lol wut.
Poirier is a black belt bruh.

you not knowing that tells me you didn't put much effort or actual research Into this "analysis"

Khabib wins but Poirier is tough. I don't think It will be an easy fight.

BJJ isn't Wrestling.

 

[PurpleDrank]

Im favouring Khabib but Dustin has some tools Khabib hasnt seen yet. He has a good front choke game. Hes great in tje pocket and has good cardio. He has power and his ability to stick and move has gotten better. Also the way he shifts when hes throwing combos, can get him in trouble in this fight, but he could catch khabib. I think its a tougher fight for Khabib than people think.

 

[MescalineDreams]

BJJ isn't Wrestling.

who said it was

 

[Mixedfights]

5 round wrestlefuck that will make you wishing Dustin was fighting Max again.

 

[Paynebringer]

Love Diamond, but he is going to get man-handled by Khabib.

The Eagle puts him on his back for the whole fight and just smeshes him silly. Dustin cannot stop his grappling.

Pretty much this ^^^ I like Dustin picked him against Holloway, against Khabib Dustin gets tossed like a garden salad Dustin works so much better in space, space he won't get with Khabib. It will be a competitive fight but a Khabib win UD...

 

[John makfresshi]

I thought Khabib was all about legacy & not money? I guess Conor really did win the war then, if Khabib lost track of proving himself to be the best of all-time, & now he just wants to retire young with a lot of money. Like I said, he can do whatever he wants, but I thought he was going to show everyone that he’s the best ever, & the only way to do that is to beat every top 5 fighter in your division. But I guess he’d rather just fight a couple more times & hope that a 50 year old Mayweather wants to beat another MMA guy at boxing so they can both get a big payday? That’s some bullshit if you ask me.

You looking up to the wrong people if you are letting a quote by a fighter effect your mood. Relax mate

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

You’ve got a point. I think Khabib was fighting killers before he got that belt. Ever since, all I hear is how he’s going to retire soon & he wants to fight a 50 year old Mayweather. Not to mention he was hoping to fight Max, who’s a 145er. If Khabib gets back to his old ways & faces the current top 5 at LW, then I’ll be impressed again. I just don’t like the direction he’s been going after the Conor fight.

I don’t have any problem with wanting to fight a dominant 145 champ, anymore than I minded GSP fighting BJ Penn (Khabib also wanted to fight GSP by the way, so it’s not like he’s targeting midgets). As for Mayweather, it’s hard for me to fault a guy for being interested in a big eight figure payday.

Ultimately I think we should judge Khabib on his actions. Lots of guys say lots of things, especially in this age of fighters talking their way into big opportunities.

If the guy walks away in a fight or two he’s probably not the GOAT. But I don’t know if he’ll really do that.

 

[blaseblah]

Factually their TDD before they fought Khabib was much higher than Poirier, even while fighting better wrestlers.

Also, Barboza has 7 losses, only 2 of them are against guys who primarily wrestled against him. He's beaten guys like Danny Castillo who has wrestle fucked the likes of Tony Ferguson, and yes, Dustin Poirier.

Barboza looked bad against Castillo. You need to watch fights instead of looking up statistics. Dustin was a rookie when he fought Castillo and not even in the UFC yet, that fight has no relevance to today.

Anyone who has followed Barboza's career knows he struggles with wrestlers and pressure. You're a fool for bringing him up.

 

[ViolenceFight]

I don’t have any problem with wanting to fight a dominant 145 champ, anymore than I minded GSP fighting BJ Penn (Khabib also wanted to fight GSP by the way, so it’s not like he’s targeting midgets). As for Mayweather, it’s hard for me to fault a guy for being interested in a big eight figure payday.

Ultimately I think we should judge Khabib on his actions. Lots of guys say lots of things, especially in this age of fighters talking their way into big opportunities.

If the guy walks away in a fight or two he’s probably not the GOAT. But I don’t know if he’ll really do that.

I feel basically the exact same way as you & agree with pretty much everything you just said. I hope it’s mostly talk, because I really want to see Khabib get tested by the top 5, now that he has the belt. It would be a shame if he retires in a couple fights, I just wanna see the guy show us how good he is & if he’s truly 1 of the GOATs.

 

[Grapplefest]

Barboza looked bad against Castillo. You need to watch fights instead of looking up statistics. Dustin was a rookie when he fought Castillo and not even in the UFC yet, that fight has no relevance to today.

Anyone who has followed Barboza's career knows he struggles with wrestlers and pressure. You're a fool for bringing him up.

You're a fool for thinking Dustin's TDD is anything special. Who's the best wrestler he's gone up against? Castillo? Wrestle fucked. Swanson and KZ did the same against him and Alvarez mounted him with not much effort when they fought. Barboza isn't too good with his back against the cage but his TDD in the middle of the octagon is great, shrugged off Gilbert Melendez and Dariush with ease.

MJ actually has a decent wrestling background and his TDD has always been great. He's just not very good off his back so all you need is a single takedown if your top control is good enough.

I've followed Poirier for a long time and his TDD is just not anything special. Khabib will have a field day with him. He won't do as good as Iaquinta because Iaquinta has much better TDD and is a better scrambler.

 

[blaseblah]

You're a fool for thinking Dustin's TDD is anything special. Who's the best wrestler he's gone up against? Castillo? Wrestle fucked. Swanson and KZ did the same against him and Alvarez mounted him with not much effort when they fought. Barboza isn't too good with his back against the cage but his TDD in the middle of the octagon is great, shrugged off Gilbert Melendez and Dariush with ease.

MJ actually has a decent wrestling background and his TDD has always been great. He's just not very good off his back so all you need is a single takedown if your top control is good enough.

I see you like looking up records instead of watching fights. Dariush was decisively beating Barboza before he got hit with that knee. Also you're exposing your lack of knowledge by bringing up rookie Poirier's losses from years ago as if he's the exact same guy today.

Unlike you I've actually followed these guys for their entire careers. Again, you're a fool for bringing up Barboza's wrestling as it's clearly an issue he's struggled with over and over.

 

[rosco544]

Watch that Max/Dustin fight again without commentary .it's a very close fight. I understand why Khabib thought it was a draw

It was close but probably 48-47. Definitely not a draw because Max clearly didn't win any 10-8 rounds.

 

[FlowchartRog]

Heavy underdog? 2 to 1 is more a slight underdog. I was expecting something more like 4 to 1, at least.

I do hope Poirier call pull it off, the thing about Kebab is on top of all his other attributes, he has a fucking good chin - and power is obviously one of Dustin's best attributes and what has helped to net him the wins he has in his excellent recent run at 155.

 

[FlowchartRog]

Watch that Max/Dustin fight again without commentary .it's a very close fight. I understand why Khabib thought it was a draw

I picked Max to win, and honestly I didn't think it was close at all. Max controlled and outlanded Dustin in 1 round, in the other 4 rounds Dustin not only landed more, but much harder shots too and just controlled him.

 

[Franklin U.]

This whole topic /thread is so misleading and mma fighting apparently doesn't know what a heavy underdog is .... especially in fight game. When I saw title , I was expecting to see khabib at -420 or something in the high 300s.

-230 / +205 ..... are you fucking kidding me ? This is what I thought the line would be (in that neighborhood). This is like a mild to a tad above mild favorite in the fight game. In fact, this line tells me that Dustin has a fighting chance.

It's bad enough we have the worst fans - now I have to read negligible journalism from actual mma sites.

 

[Ukrainianmma]

It will become almost even come fight night. Dustin is legit

I'll be rich if that happens will put it all the piece of crap hugging rat

 

[EmbraceTheGrind]

I think it will be one of the easier fights in the last couple of years for khabib. DP is a better grappler than MJ but a worse wrestler. Al is better everywhere when it comes to take downs and grappling. Edson is a harder fighter to takedown than Poirier. i see a bad bad beating for dustin.

i feel the ufc put 2 guys who have very low chance of beating khabib so the chicken can get its rematch next.

DP is a better wrestler than MJ

 

[TheOldMan]

It will become almost even come fight night. Dustin is legit

God I wish you were right, I'd make A LOT of money. But unfortunately you're wrong

Dustin is good though so it wasn't all bad.