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Khabib is a specialist.
There is obviously much larger talent today - especially in lighest weighclasses/WMMA, not that much in heavier divisions - but Fitch's point is that such talent is focusing his training in standup to content the promoter (casuals) while giving up training time in ground/grappling skills.
Some "especialists" from back in the day could have given Adesanya a way tougher time than his last tittle challengers. It's pretty telling btw that Adesanya - being a pure striker and undisputed champ - has barely faced an opponent with a heavy takedown gameplan
the better wrestlers are at WW. MW is currently striker heavy. Its tough to see who actually gives him a tough fight at the moment, which is a damn shame.
Khabib, Conor snd adesanya are all specialists and are elite fighters. That’s pretty rare these days imo. If you put a prime John Fitch in todays WW division, I think there’s a few guys that would beat him. And he was a solid no 2 to gsp for quite a while back in the day
There’s a lot more talent coming from Russia, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, australasia than 10 years ago. Many of those regions bring different elements of MMA. It’s a much more global sport now, I just dont see how it has regressed. It’s the complete opposite