What should be a gameplan for Poirier to beat Khabib?

[Taric]

Touch him with the jab

 

[Source]

Dustin can not plant his feet in front of Khabib, and he most certainly can not ever put his back to the cage. He must keep the fight in the center of the cage using his jab, movement, faints and pressure, while not over committing.

 

[Combat Wombatt]

Sprawl and Brawl. Keep away from the fence. Hurt Khabib and finish him.

 

[flowoftruth]

Tap tap run

 

[FaceSlam]

Eye poke him early in the fight on the side of his dominant hand. Let that eye water through the first round and avoid take downs. In the 2nd round kick him in the nuts, try to get both nuts with the one kick. Finish him in a clinch with knees to the head.

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Did he say anything about training with Poirier that you wouldn't expect?

Not really. Really good striking. Cool guy. Legit black belt but he's trained with better. His BJJ game didn't seem super complex. just a lot of good fundamentals.

 

[Gambit MMA]

Stop the takedown and EASILLY beat him up on the feet.

I see Dustin by late Tko in this fight. His cardio is there. His striking is dynamic and he has power.

He has a good ground game too.

Styles make fights and I see this as khabibs toughest matchup.

He will get beat up in this fight even in victory imo

if khabib makes it look easy

well then, its hard to deny the hype and the skill level

 

[Brit_Brawler]

Do people really think the only way to beat khabib is to be some kind of superstar wrestler? Khabib is very hittable and Dustin is a phenomenal striker with serious power. Why cant he win? Is khabib immune to being hurt with strikes?

Khabib has basically fought 4 strikers in recent memory/ his whole UFC career and possibly his whole mma career.

 

[TapMachine]

Do people really think the only way to beat khabib is to be some kind of superstar wrestler? Khabib is very hittable and Dustin is a phenomenal striker with serious power. Why cant he win? Is khabib immune to being hurt with strikes?

He's not. The problem is that the window Khabib provides a striker to hurt him is very small and the only way to extend that window is to have elite wrestling. If you don't have elite wrestling, you're going to spend the early rounds on your back getting smothered and in the later rounds, regardless of whether Khabib decides to take you down or not, you simply won't have the same punching power you had in the early rounds and Khabib has that neanderthal-tier chin. It is important to be a good wrestler against Khabib not only because it will allow you to stop some takedowns and make Khabib work harder, but also because being a good wrestler will condition you better for a gruelling wrestlefuck and will allow you to transfer your punching power into the later rounds much better.

TL;DR: yes, the only way to beat Khabib is to be an elite wrestler.

 

[scytheavatar]

Do people really think the only way to beat khabib is to be some kind of superstar wrestler? Khabib is very hittable and Dustin is a phenomenal striker with serious power. Why cant he win? Is khabib immune to being hurt with strikes?

Khabib has improved his striking defense by a lot in recent times, why don't you try asking Conor or Iaquinta if it is that easy to hit him?

 

[HHJ]

Lock the door and hope they dont have blasters.

 

[HHJ]

Khabib has improved his striking defense by a lot in recent times, why don't you try asking Conor or Iaquinta if it is that easy to hit him?

Iaqunta is the most no nonsense fearless guy. He wanted to put hands on khabib and realized he couldnt. He even laughed at the situation. He knew hed get taken down immediatley. This is simply something every opponent has to deal with.

 

[Gmork]

Did you know that Poirier has 69% takedown defense. Keep in mind he mostly fought pure strikers as well. How is he going to stop Khabib?

Al and Conor both managed to stuff plenty of Khabib's takedowns. I'm quite certain Dustin will.

 

[TR1]

Al and Conor both managed to stuff plenty of Khabib's takedowns. I'm quite certain Dustin will.

Conor mostly stuffed takedowns through cheating.

When Khabib wanted to take him down, he succeeded.

 

[Gmork]

Conor mostly stuffed takedowns through cheating.

When Khabib wanted to take him down, he succeeded.

He didn't manage to get him down in that third round, and I assure he wanted him down the whole time. He also didn't have much luck taking Al down after the second round.

Khabib is going to have to stand with Dustin at some point in this fight. And that's going to be dangerous, because Dustin is a lot better than him on the feet.

 

[champbless2]

Throw rocks at him

 

[REVOFEV]

Khabib has that weird flinch thing he does where he puts his arms up and throws his head back with his chin up when a strike is thrown.

 

[spinitch]

Avoid take downs until end of round. Dustin will need to take some chances so load up in last minute and hang on if get taken down. Get the sweat going early so slippery. Khabib might not be 100% , so look for a weakness. Khabib favored but Dustin can make it hard and maybe force enough errors if Khabib gets frustrated.

 

[IBeLurkin]

Stop the takedown and EASILLY beat him up on the feet

Remind me of all the times (especially recently) that Khabib has been beaten on the feet...I'll wait.

I love how all the shertards keep pretending like Khabib always loses the standup.

Wtf have you people been watching??

Khabib wins the standup because his opponents are so terrified of being taken down and smeshed. While they worry about the TD, Khabib easily pieces them up, and it then opens up the TD again...

...it's a vicious cycle. And it's why undefeated Khabib beats everyone.

 

[r-harper-1]

Poirier by 4th round tko