The Loser mentality inside MMA media when arguing about Khabib

[Dana's Moonface]

not bad. leonard's peak certainly didn't last as long as many other greats but his elite wins and his skills were undeniable and obvious. i do think many still rank duran ahead of him due to their head-to-head (although their first fight was very close) and duran being the goat lw (although duran's lw resume is actually a bit like khabibs!). the floyd manny debate there's also no right answer. i do think in the end more would put floyd ahead as goat vs manny.

I only put manny ahead because the fucker is still going and started from such a light weight

More experts will likely rank floyd higher, but manny will probably be the fan favourite due to his exciting style

It's ridiculously hard for a consensus goat to exist in any sport

Jordan would probably be the closest

 

[Rdude92]

Khabib should move up to 170 and fight real wrestlers instead of weight bullying

Lol casual

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

Obviously it’s stupid to hold against someone not having any losses. People go to the extremes in these discussions. Losses are overstated as well.

Khabib’s record and performances have been amazing and he’s clearly among the best to ever do it. He wasn’t at the top for as many fights as some of his peers in the goat discussion. So ultimately his case will have supporters and detractors and there is no right or wrong answer, but he’s obviously in the mix.

Good points. I'd also like to add the nuance that a "L" or two often doesn't necessarily mean that much, especially if against a top/future contender, and especially if it was a heated back-and-forth or close split-decision. . . which is why Khabib's record is so damn good: he's got no losses, and NONE of his wins were close, back-and-forth split-decisions.....they were all beginning-to-end domination. Him taking the pressure relentlessly to Gaetje was awesome as well.

p.s.- I wasn't a big Khabib fan for a long while, because I generally don't like grapple-heavy wrestlers (with no/few subs). . . but my hat's off to him: he's a demolition machine.

 

[Peli]

I think sometimes guys like Dan Hardy mistake not having a loss with not facing adversity. Like you just coast through your career without facing a challenge. Khabib may have never lost an MMA contest but thats not to say he hasnt faced adversity.

I think arguably the most important fight in Khabibs career was the Tibau fight. The scorecards may say Khabib won all 3 rounds via UD but anyone whos watched the fight knows how Khabib struggled to impose his will vs Tibau. I think he scored 0 TD's in that fight. I genuinely think that fight changed Khabib when you see his emotion after the victory, and as hard as he had worked till that point, i think it just encouraged him to work harder on his striking, grappling and wrestling. I think without the Tibau fight, Khabib would arguably not be as dominant a fighter as we see today, so he clearly learnt more from a "victory" than a loss.

I think the mindset of MMA fighters is to view failure as a learning opportunity. Difference is the average MMA fighters views losses as failure whereas guys like Khabib, GSP, JBJ and other GOATS internally view close victories as failures, so learn from their victories rather than just their defeats.

I honestly think people have a striking bias, including the media and fans in general. So they don't see Khabib can't be hit. Rather, they highlighted he's been hit clean! Rather saying, yes that was clean for one fight in one round, they fixated on that and go with the narrative that he's open to being hit. His striking is wacky, so they don't look at the improvements, rather they focus on the technical faults of his striking over the effectiveness of his striking.

I mean anyone with just an observant eye can see his striking has improved. "Yeah, but if he stands with x in a fight he's getting knocked out) I guess people forget its MMA.

Notice they don't say this about Jon or izzy even before Jon's controversial wins because Jon and Izzy won with striking. I don't recall izzy ever being criticised for not fighting elite mma wrestlers. Derek Brunson and Gastelum was the best he's faced.

 

[Andreh]

Khabib again... Who cares about Khabib lol, no one even remember him anymore. Lost all respect after scale gate.

The only thing that matters is he retired just because the scale gate and will go back when people forget all the shit that happened there. That he, his team, UFC and payroll knew it. This is all that matters and what will be remembered.

 

[TerrorTimmy]

Dan Hardy is a one dimensional fighter who gets triggered by 13 year olds on twitter. Wouldn't be ranked in today's division

When Gall called him out, I thought Gall had a pretty good chance to beat Hardy, and Gall isn't that good

 

[ColombianFist]

Hardy is a salty idiot, If khabib went undefeated it's because he did his job and he's probably the best wrestler/grappler strong enough to impose his style. Losing always helps to fix whatever stuff you have missed, but if someone had success without losing it's because the work was 2 or 3 times bigger than normal, plus the intelligence to see what's lacking and the will to correct.

And remember the Tibau fight, i think for khabib that was a loss.

 

[richardjohnson]

Khabib again... Who cares about Khabib lol, no one even remember him anymore. Lost all respect after scale gate.

The only thing that matters is he retired just because the scale gate and will go back when people forget all the shit that happened there. That he, his team, UFC and payroll knew it. This is all that matters and what will be remembered.

Yeah his retirement had nothing to with his fathers passing and all because of some Sherdog scale controversy without any definitive proof.

Please don’t reproduce, thanks.

 

[Ufcmaster]

I've listened to multiple media outlets, read multiple articles and it seems like everyone values a loss or adversity for MMA and find some way to hold that against Khabib(but not Jon or Izzy)

As @Ufcmaster , Dan Hardy has been preaching for about a year plus about Khabib not having a loss as a fighter. Says a fight on your record forces you to correct your mistakes and get you better as a fighter. I listened to a pocast which shall be named where one author argued that they value GSP's record over Khabib's because GSP has losses on his record and how he over came that. What? It's one thing to value his record, the quality of opponents, but simply because he has losses on his record? What?

Khabib is fighting elite level competition and dominating them. Why does he need to lose to prove he's great?



I agree failure can be life's best teacher, but I don't think you need to lose to necessarily get better. Khabib has shown us how much better than he is against everyone else, but he hasn't shown us the best khabib out there.

Not only mma media but also fighters.
No fighters has so many haters like Khabib lol

Khabib is really Blessed man. He's protected from their hateful eyes and jealousy

 

[Andreh]

Yeah his retirement had nothing to with his fathers passing and all because of some Sherdog scale controversy without any definitive proof.

Please don’t reproduce, thanks.

Oh, sure, if were because of his father he would make 30-0 like his father wanted - this is well-known -, not stop at 29-0 and use his father as an excuse lol. Stop with the bullshit.

 

[richardjohnson]

Oh, sure, if were because of his father he would make 30-0 like his father wanted - this is well-known -, not stop at 29-0 and use his father as an excuse lol. Stop with the bullshit.

Lol you can continue to act as if you know Khabibs hidden agenda and I’ll continue to take what he says at face value.

 

[TheScorpionDude]

5,000+ posts since June? Three Khabib threads by you on the front page just today.
Dude, Khabib is retired now, time to take a break from white Knighting for him and
live your life some.

You see that big rectangle thing at the top of the basement stairs? Turn the shiny
round thing in the middle and push gently. It's a scary world out there but you can
do this TS, I believe in you.

What a ridiculous post....

Caves don't have basements silly

 

[NDiaz209]

GSP record should be valued over Khabib's because Khabib defended his belt only three times. But delusional Khabib fanboys still think he's greater than GSP.

 

[bigconan]

thats because dan hardy is a LOSER. his biggest claim to fame is getting his ass whooped by GSP.
Yet he complains about T.Ferg carrying around a belt he rightfully earned

The only people saying you need losses to be considered goat, are guys with losses...they're trying to justify their own losses...but the fact is, if you never lose, you have a perfect record. losses show weakness, winning shows strength. only the weak minded, look to justify weakness(losses). khabib has improved greatly throughout his career.

 

[Raffen]

Dan Hardy thinks he's some kind of intellectual

 

[Andreh]

Lol you can continue to act as if you know Khabibs hidden agenda and I’ll continue to take what he says at face value.

Then you agree he is being a hypocrite, because he can't use his father as an excuse once is WELL-KNOWN that his father wanted Khabib fighting until 30-0. Or Khabib forgot his father's will "all of a sudden"?

 

[RightToBareKnuckles]

Khabib didn't need a loss to 'learn from failure' because he stayed grounded and focused for years, always learning and improving and not taking anything for granted. Probably in large part due to this father and training partners (DC helped I'm sure).

 

[Peli]

What a ridiculous post....

Caves don't have basements silly

Nor do they have internet.

 

[richardjohnson]

Then you agree he is being a hypocrite, because he can't use his father as an excuse once is WELL-KNOWN that his father wanted Khabib fighting until 30-0. Or Khabib forgot his father's will "all of a sudden"?

What are you going on about? His father wanted him to get to 30-0 but I doubt he ever envisioned that Khabib would have to do it without him. He said he told his mother he wouldn’t continue to fight without his father and I believe him.

 

[Andreh]

What are you going on about? His father wanted him to get to 30-0 but I doubt he ever envisioned that Khabib would have to do it without him. He said he told his mother he wouldn’t continue to fight without his father and I believe him.

The point is his father wanted him to go 30-0 and he is using his father as an excuse to stop 29-0, which doesn't make any sense.