Media Remember how horrible Khabib was at striking?

[Corrado Soprano]

I almost forgot how underdeveloped Khabib’s striking was in the UFC.



Crazy how he went from this to being able to handle himself against McGregor, Poirier, and Gaethje on the feet. Also don’t forget he dropped McGregor. This video is almost comical. Fighters on the UFC 1 card had better striking. If Khabib can improve like this on the feet, I feel like McGregor can improve the same amount on the ground. I see a lot of submissions in Conor’s future.

 

[User9992]

But his striking DEFENSE was incredible though.

Almost never got touched!

 

[JohnMandick]

Fighters can improve. Agreed.

 

[RoyJonesJr]

The Dagestanis have such effective striking

Like they are ass, but at the same time out strike elite strikers

 

[markg171]

But his striking DEFENSE was incredible though.

Almost never got touched!

Fascinating observation that a truly elite grappler who fought 95% of his fights on the ground rarely took damage on the feet.

 

[DaQuirkMan]

But his striking DEFENSE was incredible though.

Almost never got touched!

COPE

 

[Get To Da Choppa]

I almost forgot how underdeveloped Khabib’s striking was in the UFC.



Crazy how he went from this to being able to handle himself against McGregor, Poirier, and Gaethje on the feet. Also don’t forget he dropped McGregor. This video is almost comical. Fighters on the UFC 1 card had better striking. If Khabib can improve like this on the feet, I feel like McGregor can improve the same amount on the ground. I see a lot of submissions in Conor’s future.

It's like he learned how to strike the air from elite WMMA strikers like Maycee Barber and Cindy Dandois

 

[fightfan70]

Fascinating observation that a truly elite grappler who fought 95% of his fights on the ground rarely took damage on the feet.

yeah i thought that was an incredible observation myself.

and with striking like that,,, there is no need to wonder why the gameplan was 99.9% ground game.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

When you have 10/10 the most dangerous wrestling game out of anyone you've ever fought, suddenly, you're striking can open up because of the threat of the takedown. not a crazy take at all. actually completely understandable.

 

[Jonesisnatural]

Khabib is the best example of fear of the takedown/grappling leading to success on the feet
If khabib had to kickbox every single one of his UFC opponents he might very well go winless
Not Ben askren levels of bad, but he certainly lacked some fundamentals and was good enough at other aspects/combined with athleticism and power to get by

 

[Arm Barbarian]

Him decking McG was pretty wild. I definitely did not see that one coming. Neither did Conor.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Fascinating observance that a truly elite grappler who fought 95% of his fights on the ground rarely took damage on the feet.

Yeah, and guys like Islam and Umar with very high strike defense also have very low output because they focus way more on controlling range, being defensive and looking for takedowns too. These guys are almost never in exchanges unless someone can force that upon them. It's more representative of their overall game and approach than their striking in particular, I don't think in a kickboxing ring their striking would look very good or their defense even.

It's interesting, it's more representative of their games overall than their striking to me. Guys haven't figured out how to fight these fellas or they simply don't have the ability to yet. I mean, there's a handful of guys who do but for the most part? Nah.

 

[WolverReem]

Al Iaquinta proved that Khabib is absolutely n00b without his wrestling.
Al really embarrased him.
You can argue that Tibau won against Khabib.

 

[markg171]

It's like he learned how to strike the air from elite WMMA strikers like Maycee Barber and Cindy Dandois

He learned to strike from DC

 

[markg171]

Yeah, and guys like Islam and Umar with very high strike defense also have very low output because they focus way more on controlling range, being defensive and looking for takedowns too. These guys are almost never in exchanges unless someone can force that upon them. It's more representative of their overall game and approach than their striking in particular, I don't think in a kickboxing ring their striking would look very good or their defense even.

It's interesting, it's more representative of their games overall than their striking to me. Guys haven't figured out how to fight these fellas or they simply don't have the ability to yet. I mean, there's a handful of guys who do but for the most part? Nah.

They're not Maia, I'll give them that.

 

[AfroBanana]

AKA improved Khabib tremendously, really can be seen Micheal Johnson and onward. Everyone thinks he was champion caliber the entire time, he wasn’t.

Not only did they improve his striking but they refined his grappling and vastly improved his take downs, chain wrestling, taught him how to use the cage and other areas he was weaker. Khabib was wild a bad striker that had bad open space takedown attempts.

His striking may have improved but it benefits him because of the threat of his clinch and takedown. If Khabib was unable to take someone down I don’t think he’s winning many kickboxing matches, but Islam has that ability.

 

[jeff7b9]

The M, the first one, in MMA, stands for MIXED. Mixed Martial Arts.

Khabib fought very effectively.

It isn't boxing or kickboxing.

 

[HuskySamoan]

They're not Maia, I'll give them that.

Well Maia was also pretty poor athletically, slow, couldn't hit hard. So far a lot of these guys seem to be from very good athletic stock if you just look at their bodies, the way they move and all of that. Islam had always stood out to me as one of the best athletes at 155lbs, Umar does at 135lbs too.

 

[jeff7b9]

Al Iaquinta proved that Khabib is absolutely n00b without his wrestling.
Al really embarrased him.
You can argue that Tibau won against Khabib.

Which round did Al "really embarass" Khabib?

 

[BJJ4Tone]

It got a lot better as his career progressed. Though it was never technical or pretty, it was super effective because of how scared everyone was of the takedown. Look at Brooklyn Gangster Yaquinta's posture during that fight... Khabib could touch him with teh jab all night, because Al was crouched so low in anticipation of the shot.
But his striking was almost always ugly. Never settled when throwing punches, horrific lead uppercuts, front kicks that didn't make sense, etc.




But ILY, Bibby Nurms.