Why is Khabib so good on the ground?

JustOnce

JustOnce

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Until Khabib showed up, the common impression of Sambo fighters were that they were well rounded but not particularly had the wrestling or BJJ of high level guys to really succeed at a highest level, aside from obvious exception of Fedor who really has a better judo backgrounds than most guys with judo backgrounds in MMA.

I'm just wondering how this guy is so good, if you think about it. I mean, maybe if you weren't around you wouldn't find this surprising, but for me, it was something that I found curious how there were very few sambo guys who were really succeeding at a high level of the sports...but boom came Khabib....and it looks like legit guys are coming out of russia now...
 
Khabib is also a judoka and a wrestler. He was a pankration champion. He's very well rounded as a grappler.
 
How is anyone really good at anything?

talent + hard work
 
Khabib's wrestling-wrestling is high-level. If he was an average wrestler but great at the non-wrestling parts of Sombo, he wouldn't be where he is today.

BJJ Scout (I think) did a nice breakdown of how he positions himself within GNP setups to maximize his advantage which I found interesting.
 
JustOnce said:
Until Khabib showed up, the common impression of Sambo fighters were that they were well rounded but not particularly had the wrestling or BJJ of high level guys to really succeed at a highest level, aside from obvious exception of Fedor who really has a better judo backgrounds than most guys with judo backgrounds in MMA.

I'm just wondering how this guy is so good, if you think about it. I mean, maybe if you weren't around you wouldn't find this surprising, but for me, it was something that I found curious how there were very few sambo guys who were really succeeding at a high level of the sports...but boom came Khabib....and it looks like legit guys are coming out of russia now...
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My guess is because he's not just a sambo fighter or just a wrestler. Khabib combines both disciplines to great effect.
 
JustOnce said:
Until Khabib showed up, the common impression of Sambo fighters were that they were well rounded but not particularly had the wrestling or BJJ of high level guys to really succeed at a highest level, aside from obvious exception of Fedor who really has a better judo backgrounds than most guys with judo backgrounds in MMA.

I'm just wondering how this guy is so good, if you think about it. I mean, maybe if you weren't around you wouldn't find this surprising, but for me, it was something that I found curious how there were very few sambo guys who were really succeeding at a high level of the sports...but boom came Khabib....and it looks like legit guys are coming out of russia now...
Click to expand...
Khabib is the exception to the rule, he wasn't just any Sambo guy, he was world chamion, one of the elite. He just happened to come to the UFC, I'm sure the one guy to beat Khabib in Sambo would have been damn good too if he had decided to fight mma. Plus, most Khabib has wrestling too which is what really makes the most difference, he wan't near as good until he joined aka and taught Khabib more than just a few ways to get guys to the ground.
 
Cause he wrestled bears as a 9 year old child

khabib-wrestles-bear.PNG
 
Hes not just a sambo guy. He has been training with dagestani wrestlers his whole life. Training judo and sambo his whole life as well. On top of all of that he has been training at aka doing jiu jitsu for a long time now as well. This dude has like 25 years of all sorts of grappling experience.
 
Rear Nakey said:
Because he outweighs his opponents by a lot.
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I know you're trolling, but Khabib's physical strength is one of the factors as well. Everyone who grapples with him comments on his strength.
 
Trained by his father, adapts grappling styles superbly. Hard freakin’ work through a lifetime of training. Plus, Sambo has many submissions, 1,000 up to black belt and 1,500 after black (double subs), it was the pioneer art in the leg-lock game, Remember Oleg Taktarov?
 
He used to play "Nightcrawlers" with his village elders growing up...
 
JustOnce said:
Until Khabib showed up, the common impression of Sambo fighters were that they were well rounded but not particularly had the wrestling or BJJ of high level guys to really succeed at a highest level, aside from obvious exception of Fedor who really has a better judo backgrounds than most guys with judo backgrounds in MMA.

I'm just wondering how this guy is so good, if you think about it. I mean, maybe if you weren't around you wouldn't find this surprising, but for me, it was something that I found curious how there were very few sambo guys who were really succeeding at a high level of the sports...but boom came Khabib....and it looks like legit guys are coming out of russia now...
Click to expand...
Your mistake is to see Khabib as a sambo fighter. The guy comes from some village in Dagestan where they have about 1 Olympics medalist in wrestling for 300 residents and has been training his whole life with the best in the world. GSP technically competed in karate but when you see him fight, it's all wrestling. Now imagine a version of GSP who didn't pick up wrestling at 20 years old but right after he was born. That's what Khabib is.
 
People start acting like sambo guys have been all succesful like wrestling and bjj guys. And Oleg got smashed by top fighters too
For example, baby Fedor is multiple times combat sambo champion. This guy definitely didn't don't and will not have success at highest level unfortunately.

Outside Khabib and Fedor, high level sambo guys weren't really all that succesful in comparison
 
StopDucking said:
Your mistake is to see Khabib as a sambo fighter. The guy comes from some village in Dagestan where they have about 1 Olympics medalist in wrestling for 300 residents and has been training his whole life with the best in the world. GSP technically competed in karate but when you see him fight, it's all wrestling. Now imagine a version of GSP who didn't pick up wrestling at 20 years old but right after he was born. That's what Khabib is.
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I think probably THAT had more to do with his success. Thath e is from Dagestan than the fact that he's a smabo fighter.
 
TapMachine said:
I know you're trolling, but Khabib's physical strength is one of the factors as well. Everyone who grapples with him comments on his strength.
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Really? Then why does he practically kill himself to make 155? Why not use that awesome strength against guys his own size at 170?
 
Reign009 said:
How is anyone really good at anything?

talent + hard work
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You can probably take out 'talent' and just say hard work. Certainly, certain people succeed more in a lesser time period, but if you put in 10,000 hours in to anything, you will becomes master. I've found 'talented people' just have more passion about their craft and consequences were spend more time thinking about said subject and therefor have a better time when they practice .
 
Rear Nakey said:
Then why does he practically kill himself to make 155?
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The bad weight cut that put him in the hospital was due to Khabib not having a proper nutritionist. Khabib has fixed this mistake and his last several cuts were easy. Everyone cuts weight, but your assumption that Khabib cuts an extraordinary amount of weight is wrong.
 
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