Rewatched Khabib/Ragin' Al with a Conor matchup in mind

[dildos]

Round 1First 20 seconds and Khabib backs up to the cage and Al hits him with a nice straight right clean. Not particularly hard since Al's stance is low and preparing for takedown shots. Khabib throws a bit wild and barely moves out of the way of a decent hook, Khabib then does a little bit of running to reset.Al backs off and Khabib shoots a low single and grabs it tight and gets the takedown. Al gives up his back, but is able to scramble and get to his feet on the fence. I don't think Conor would be able to recover from giving up his back like that. He can't let that happen.From here the round is basically a series of Al getting taken down and getting up against the cage, not a lot of damage. Khabib is literally a master of using the cage against his opponent. He knows exactly how to apply pressure so they have to rely on the cage to stay on their feet, which completely let him move around their side and back. The last 20 second Al is finally able to square up against the cage and it's fairly even.I'm going to steal this from a audio segment I heard from Eddie Bravo, but if Conor goes to the ground his best chance isn't to get to his feet, it's to square up and fight and play guard. Khabib's style is made to have you trying to get up, HE WILL WIN THIS BATTLE. You need to fight him and get him off his game and make him WORK for what he wants to do. It will tire him out. Nothing Al did in the first round tired Khabib at all.Round 2
They come out striking. Khabib keeps his hands up for the first 15 seconds, but then they drop to his waist. He does plant his right hand to his head anytime he throws with his left. They both pretty much suck with the hands. Khabib again dives for a super low single almost gets it and pushes Al against the cage. Not sure Conor would have snaked out if Khabib grabbed that ankle.Khabib gets a beautiful single against the cage and rides Al for like two minutes, nothing really happening until Al gives up his back. Khabib then takes his back from the top and tries for a RNC, but doesn't get it. Khabib's arms look like they are pumping tons of blood and I wouldn't be surprised if his arms are gassed. If he were fresh I think he would finish that choke. Al can't get Khabib off his back for the rest of the roundRound 3Again Khabib keeps his hands in high guard until 4:45 like clockwork he drops them to his waist. Khabib's left hand is at his leg. This could be a HUGE opening for Conor as he is a southpaw, but I would have to imagine his camp has him keeping that left hand high. But if his left hand is high it raises a few questions. How would that affect his ability to shoot and grab, both his low single attempts are pretty much his nosediving to the ground and grabbing with his left arm. How long into a 5 round fight will he remember to keep that left hand high?1 minute into 3rd round and both of Khabib's hands are straight down. He is obviously tired.He is peppering Al with jabs from his waist. Al is pretty much gassed. Khabib shoots a failed low single. Obviously the shot for Conor to watch for.Khabib keeps throwing a few jabs and Al gets a decent shot in once or twice.Khabib switches to south paw and actually looks invigorated from it. He's keeping his guard up and looks quicker and a bit cleaner. lol I forgot how much he talks.Both Khabib and Al basically took the round off to recover. Khabib looked much fresher at the end of the round than the beginning. Makes me wonder, even if Khabib does take Conor down for the first two rounds could he keep doing it again for a 3rd and obviously standing is Conor's realm so it really doesn't give Khabib a spot to recover at the start of a new round.Round 4If Khabib fights for every 1 minute against Conor like he did this round he will get beat up. All he did was throw jabs from his waist and get hit with so so overhand rights from Al. He failed another low single. I think he is very tired.Round 5Before the round Khabib's corner calls for him to finish Al.Khabib immediately shoots from the middle of the cage and it's honestly a fairly weak try. Very little penetration and zero follow through. Khabib doesn't "look" gassed, but all of his actions seem half-assed at this point.Al is pretty much throwing at will, not landing much because it's all arm punches. Khabib is literally just leaning back and taking a few steps back. Not great defensive form from Khabib.Khabib shoots for a double against the cage and is very easily shrugged off.Khabib starts throwing wild as fuck and gets Al to back up. Khabib secures double under body lock and quickly takes Al down. Goes for the back doesn't get it and starts riding against the cage. Riding and back takes for the rest of the round.TLDRMy thoughts from rewatching are khabib is going to try to hulk smash Conor for the first two rounds, but honestly his finish rate isn't particularly good and a tired Conor will still KO a tired Khabib if he survives past round 2 due to Khabib's striking offense and defense being terrible, especially when tired.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

His striking defense is statistically one of the highest in the UFC. Just because it's ugly and he makes mistake, that doesn't mean he gets hit often. Because he doesn't.

Probably because he isn't striking very often

 

[Headkicktoleg]

It doesn't work like that against Khabib. The reason why they don't strike from the bottom is because Khabib doesn't give them any room. He push down on them while having thier limbs locked. He is a master of controling opponents limbs and is always aware where they are. When you down, the last thing you want is to have your head on the floor to have your brain to absorb every hit. It's also harder to strike with your head on the floor, because your shoulders are also on the floor. Khabib is not exactly a nice warm blanket to have on top of you. He is non stop punishing guys and that is the reason they all want to get out of there. While Khabib's style is tiring, it's way more tiring the opponent beneath him.

So Khabib has 4 arms now?

 

[Frankie Baby!]

Khabib's gonna win, idk why this is a discussion. It's gonna be hilarious to see Khabib get an easy takedown, and beat that ass.

 

[Jizzer]

And I'm saying that Diaz came in overweight due to injury, otherwise he wouldn't have had to cut any water weight at all.

Him being at 170 had nothing to do with injury it was short notice, he has fought at ww before uninjured, and having no water weight compared to being fully hydrated is contradictory to your idea of being in shape. Rookie.
I shouldn't have to explain something this simple, but then again, this is Sherdog.

 

[Maori]

Did he also keep in mind that Conor is a chronic gasser even when he’s not getting drowned in the ground

True how many times has he gassed and lost in mma?

 

[legkicktko]

True how many times has he gassed and lost in mma?

He gassed badly in both Diaz fights and blamed it on wrestling/fighting the bigger man/not using his energy correctly.

Then he fought a smaller man in an all boxing setting with no wrestling and put less power into his shots to be economical and gassed to the point of forfeit.

 

[acannxr]

@Jizzer

Him being at 170 had nothing to do with injury it was short notice, he has fought at ww before uninjured, and having no water weight compared to being fully hydrated is contradictory to your idea of being in shape. Rookie.

You're a special sort of stupid; throughout this entire thread I have been specifically referring to his rematch with McGregor in comparison with his last full camp fight.

Johnson fight:

McGregor 2:

Diaz was quoted as saying that he only needed to miss a meal in order to make 170 for the McGregor rematch, which is essentially what he weighed for the Johnson fight (maybe ; the only difference being he didn't have to cut water weight and rehydrate for the McGregor rematch, but his physique (in spite of being similar in weight) was a lot softer as a result of his injury that impeded his training and cardio in the fight.

Thanks for reaffirming:

I shouldn't have to explain something this simple, but then again, this is Sherdog.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

And yet:

He may have been a couple of pounds over 170 when he rematched McGregor, but that just means he weighed a lot less against Johnson.

Point being, which is what I said from the beginning: Diaz came into the camp and fight out of shape due to injury, and his cardio suffered as a result. McGregor has never fought the best version of Diaz (which was the Johnson fight).

Lmfao at taking Nate's word for how much he weighed. He's said several times that he has to diet year round to make 155 and it still kills him. That means his fight weight is 170, minimum. And he looked like a skeleton against MJ. He was easily 25-30 pounds heavier in the second McGregor fight.

Since we're taking fighters at their word, uncritically, we should go with McGregor said about Nate: Nate was tree times his size. So Nate was like 400 lbs.

 

[acannxr]

That means his fight weight is 170, minimum.

Your rationale for this conclusion is laughable.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

Your rationale for this conclusion is laughable.

Howso? Do elaborate? You think cutting 5 pounds of weight requires year-round dieting from Nate and is extremely difficult for him? You think cutting 5 pounds require him to "starve" and "be miserable" year-round? How about when he said it'd only take him a week (from his best 155 condition) to tip the scales at 190 pounds?

Any other conclusion than him being 170 minimum when he fights LW is laughable.

 

[ViD]

nope
My thoughts from rewatching are khabib is going to try to hulk smash Conor for the first two rounds, but honestly his finish rate isn't particularly good and a tired Conor will still KO a tired Khabib if he survives past round 2 due to Khabib's striking offense and defense being terrible, especially when tired.

A tired Conor won’t KO shit

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

True how many times has he gassed and lost in mma?

Hes gassed in 3 of his last 4 fights and lost 2 of them

 

[acannxr]

Howso? Do elaborate? You think cutting 5 pounds of weight requires year-round dieting from Nate and is extremely difficult for him?

Any other conclusion is laughable.

Because I've compiled cage weights (see signature) and most Lightweights cut from 170 lbs or less, and Diaz has a lanky physique. If you think Diaz cut from 198 lbs (which would put him in the top ten weight cuts in UFC history) then you have an astounding level of ignorance.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

Because I've compiled cage weights (see signature) and most Lightweights cut from 170 lbs or less, and Diaz has a lanky physique. If you think Diaz cut from 198 lbs (which would put him in the top ten weight cuts in UFC history) then you have an astounding level of ignorance.

Where the fuck are you getting "198 lbs" from, first of all?

And second, you have an astounding amount of stupidity if you think Diaz isn't 170 lbs minimum for his LW fights. And he himself has said he'd be 190 lbs from his LW condition in one week if he wanted to go welterweight. And he himself has said that he has to starve and be miserable, year round, to make 155. And his boxing coach said he was 200 lbs three weeks out from 202...

So it takes a real biased dumb ass to think he's only cutting like five pounds to make weight at LW.

Your compilation is laughable, and your sources suck. The first one I checked, Khabib's, is contradictory as fuck and proves nothing of the sort you're claiming. Only thing it does prove is that you're clueless.

 

[Jizzer]

@Jizzer

You're a special sort of stupid; throughout this entire thread I have been specifically referring to his rematch with McGregor in comparison with his last full camp fight.

Diaz was quoted as saying that he only needed to miss a meal in order to make 170 for the McGregor rematch, which is essentially what he weighed for the Johnson fight (maybe ; the only difference being he didn't have to cut water weight and rehydrate for the McGregor rematch, but his physique (in spite of being similar in weight) was a lot softer as a result of his injury that impeded his training and cardio in the fight.

Thanks for reaffirming:

It doesn't actually matter whether its the first or second fight you're waffling on about, your point seems based on being ripped = being in shape to fight, tell that to DC, among others. also LOL at taking a Diaz seriously with excuses, it's not like they're known for it or anything.

 

[markg171]

Howso? Do elaborate? You think cutting 5 pounds of weight requires year-round dieting from Nate and is extremely difficult for him? You think cutting 5 pounds require him to "starve" and "be miserable" year-round? How about when he said it'd only take him a week (from his best 155 condition) to tip the scales at 190 pounds?

Any other conclusion than him being 170 minimum when he fights LW is laughable.

Brah, can't you tell that the guy on the left is a small LW cutting zero weight to fight at WW???

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

Brah, can't you tell that the guy on the left is a small LW cutting zero weight to fight at WW???

That's a 150 pound man if I've ever seen one

 

[275others]

Confirmed: Khabib gets KOed in 20 seconds.

Well, it only took 13 seconds for Aldo.

 

[mkt]

1. Al is a better wrestler 2. Conor hasnt fought in 2 years.

If Conor was doing serious wrestling training for the last 2 years, the TS may have a point. But he trained for (and fought in) a boxing match, and who knows what (if anything) he did after that. I really doubt he's done much grappling at all until the Khabib fight was signed. That's what happens when you get a massive paycheck for fighting Mayweather.