Conor took him to the 4th and did better than almost everybody that fought Khabib, you can put your money on the fact that he will be prepared and well conditioned to take him out in the rematch just like he beat Nate in their second fight
Bro what are you talking about...That's just plain false. People that did better against Khabib than Conor:
- Gleison Tibau (most competitive to date, arguably won)
- Abel Trujillo (got taken down a ton, but got his own takedowns and was never in any trouble of being stopped)
- Rafael Dos Anjos (clear unanimous decision victory for khabib, but competitive throughout and RDA was never in any trouble)
- Edson Barbosa (got smashed horribly but was always in the fight and fought to the last second. Never said anything like "its just business" while getting smashed)
- Al Iaquinta (never in any trouble of getting stopped aside from a few early sub attempts. Went all 5 rounds instead of getting stopped in the 4th)
None of them got dropped as devastatingly, didn't get smashed as bad and weren't in as much trouble of being finished as Conor. Conor got dropped in rd 2 and almost stopped by GnP.
This is not to say that I disagree with what you said about Conor improving between rematches, but I seriously doubt its as much of a lock as you're making it seem. i think he'll def improve but I don't think it will be enough. Conor got finished by Nate the first time around and barely squeaked by with a razor-thin decision in the rematch. It's not like he completely shut Nate down either. He prioritized conserving his energy to the point that he was turning his back and running away from Nate to reset. If it was anyone like RDA who didn't just plod forward, they would've given Conor NO room to breathe and would be in his face every time he tried to reset until he was out of gas.
Regardless, that's what's so exciting about the fight business. You never really know until the fight itself takes place. Outside of that, it's just people opinions.
