Will Gillespie be Super-Khabib's kryptonite?

[BooBoyMan]

Gillespie is a great fighter and definitely has the potential to reach the top 5, but all the fighters he's faced so far have been very good stylistic matchups for Gillespie and his cardio still has not been tested like Khabib's has.
His frame is also smaller than Khabib's and he seems skinnier. I think Khabib's technique is at the very least, even with Gillespie, so it would eventually come down to raw strength and stamina, where IMO Khabib would win. Most likely a unanimous decision or possibly submission win if Gregor gasses out in the championship rounds.

Besides to even get a title shot Gillespie's level of competition would have to shoot up a lot higher. He'd definitely have to get at least 2 wins in the top 10.

 

[fortheo]

I think that Khabib would just jab his face off all night. It would look like a sloppier version of GSP vs. koscheck II

Who knows. Both guys are still improving.

 

[mkess101]

Gillespie is a great fighter and definitely has the potential to reach the top 5, but all the fighters he's faced so far have been very good stylistic matchups for Gillespie and his cardio still has not been tested like Khabib's has.
His frame is also smaller than Khabib's and he seems skinnier. I think Khabib's technique is at the very least, even with Gillespie, so it would eventually come down to raw strength and stamina, where IMO Khabib would win. Most likely a unanimous decision or possibly submission win if Gregor gasses out in the championship rounds.

Besides to even get a title shot Gillespie's level of competition would have to shoot up a lot higher. He'd definitely have to get at least 2 wins in the top 10.

Gregor pushes an insane pace (like Khabib) and has never slowed down, even a little. I agree on the size/strength aspect. That's a hurdle for Gregor as Khabib is definitely bigger naturally. It's not even a question. Gregor likely could make 145 if he wanted. I honestly would give a cardio edge to Gregor based on the limited evidence we have, but it's probably negligible enough to not matter. I'd tend to agree technique is pretty even, although each seems to have areas where they are a bit better than the other.

The size may be too much to overcome for Gregor, but it would be interesting to see how Khabib would handle being the one defending an onslaught of TD's vs the one attempting them.

 

[mkess101]

Khabib would just jab his face off all night. It would look like a sloppier version of GSP vs. koscheck II

Kos never even tried to implement his wrestling until after his face was mangled. He really thought he could strike with GSP.

I think Gregor would honestly go with his strength and see how it stacked up. I think its more likely we'd see a hell of a lot of cage stalling with each guy taking turns trying to be the bully. I don't see Gregor being content to stand outside and strike.

 

[BooBoyMan]

Gregor pushes an insane pace (like Khabib) and has never slowed down, even a little. I agree on the size/strength aspect. That's a hurdle for Gregor as Khabib is definitely bigger naturally. It's not even a question. Gregor likely could make 145 if he wanted. I honestly would give a cardio edge to Gregor based on the limited evidence we have, but it's probably negligible enough to not matter. I'd tend to agree technique is pretty even, although each seems to have areas where they are a bit better than the other.

The size may be too much to overcome for Gregor, but it would be interesting to see how Khabib would handle being the one defending an onslaught of TD's vs the one attempting them.

mehhh like I said Gregor's cardio just hasn't been tested like Khabib's has. He's never been in a 4th or 5th round in his entire professional career. So far it seems good enough to last 3 rounds, but idk how he would do against Khabib in the 4th or 5th rounds. Would be very interesting to see though.

Watch the Khabib vs RDA, Trujillo, or Tibau fights to see how Khabib deals with TDs. It's insane how he recovers from them so quickly and follows up with offensive wrestling of his own, and he also has great bottom game. He was about to sub Trujillo when he got taken down, but Abel got saved by the bell.

I actually don't think any of the fighters Gillespie has faced have tried to take Gregor down (Gregor has 0% TDD, so yup no one has even attempted to take him down). So again, like I said, very good stylistic matchups for Gregor.

 

[Meathead Jock]

A big factor could be that Khabib is a humongous LW while Gillespie is a tiny LW.

Is he really considered tiny? Seems decent sized to me, Khabib just happens to be very big.

 

[tenniswhiz]

When Hendricks fought GSP, I felt like that fight might be THE fight to define GSP, because that fight in my opinion was on paper the toughest challenge for GSP's career, and still is in my opinion. Pre-USADA Hendricks in my book would wipe the floor with Woodley in my humble opinion, but unfortunately had to go to war with pre-USADA lawlor.\

Fighters career's can be defined by different things, like their abilities, skills, approach, wins and losses, but true champion can be also defined by the adversaries that they had to overcome. GSP, in my opinion lost that fight against Hendricks, though I never tried to rewatch and judge the fight again. But, what you saw is that, the heart of a champion in GSP, he came back strong.

In the same light, I felt the same about Weidman against Anderson. A true adversary, greatest challenge of Anderson's career, as a whole even. Anderson fought Cormier, but LHW Cormier doesn't have BJJ skills that Weidman does. I think Weidman is a special fighter who happened to compete at the deepest division of all time, when it was the weakest of all time when Anderson reigned. And you know what happened in that fight, a champion showed his true colors and got knocked the fudge out like a clown.

I mean, it looks like it might be Gillespie who would present the greatest challenge of Khabib's career, because like I said, match ups make everything. I think Khabib beats Fergusson due to superior wrestling, and I really think Khabib for whatever reason was able to face a lot of guys who doesnt have the top notch wrestling, and he didn't have a whole lot of top 10 wins either. He arguablly lost to pre-USADA tibau, and definitely struggled against Al Laquinte, both of whom isn't necessarily an elite wrestler. I think Khabib faced like a couple wrestlers, top notch ones, in his entire career.

No.
GSP was old and tired.
Anderson was old and slow.

Both would have easily beaten those 2 earlier on.

And to disappoint you further, Khabib will be retired by the time Gregor gets his shot.

 

[mkess101]

mehhh like I said Gregor's cardio just hasn't been tested like Khabib's has. He's never been in a 4th or 5th round in his entire professional career. So far it seems good enough to last 3 rounds, but idk how he would do against Khabib in the 4th or 5th rounds. Would be very interesting to see though.

Watch the Khabib vs RDA, Trujillo, or Tibau fights to see how Khabib deals with TDs. It's insane how he recovers from them so quickly and follows up with offensive wrestling of his own, and he also has great bottom game. He was about to sub Trujillo when he got taken down, but Abel got saved by the bell.

I actually don't think any of the fighters Gillespie has faced have tried to take Gregor down. So again, like I said, very good stylistic matchups for Gregor.

None of those guys you mentioned have close to the positional grappling from top position of Gregor. RDA is excellent with top position, but I think he tried one half assed TD of Khabib and was unsuccessful, so that really showed nothing. Abel and Tibau arent grapplers like Gregor, or even in the same stratosphere. I will agree that Khabib off his back is WAY underrated though. He is slick, no doubt.

Gregor hasn't gone more than 3, but the guy has never slowed, even a tiny bit. Khabib slowed after emptying his tank in rd 2 vs Conor. He basically took rd 3 off. He also slowed vs Iaquinta pretty noticeably after rd 3. I do agree, without having actually seen Gregor go past rd 3 there's guessing involved.

 

[mkess101]

Is he really considered tiny? Seems decent sized to me, Khabib just happens to be very big.

He wrestled at 157 lbs in college. He's 31 and fighting at a lighter weight than what he wrestled at 10 years ago. That's pretty rare.

He's on the small side at LW for sure. I think he could make 145, but probably doesn't want to push his body like that.

 

[BooBoyMan]

None of those guys you mentioned have close to the positional grappling from top position of Gregor. RDA is excellent with top position, but I think he tried one half assed TD of Khabib and was unsuccessful, so that really showed nothing. Abel and Tibau arent grapplers like Gregor, or even in the same stratosphere. I will agree that Khabib off his back is WAY underrated though. He is slick, no doubt.

You're right, but I was listing those fights to give an example of how Khabib deals with offensive grappling. I know Abel/Tibau aren't as good as Gregor, ofc, but I wouldn't say that they 'aren't even in the same stratosphere' though. Abel is a 4x NAIA All-American, and Tibau has some of the best TDD in MMA history (92%!!!). Both of those guys were as big or bigger than Khabib too. Gregor wouldn't be taking down Trujillo 21 times, you know what I mean lol?

Gregor hasn't gone more than 3, but the guy has never slowed, even a tiny bit. Khabib slowed after emptying his tank in rd 2 vs Conor. He basically took rd 3 off. He also slowed vs Iaquinta pretty noticeably after rd 3. I do agree, without having actually seen Gregor go past rd 3 there's guessing involved.

Khabib showed signs of exhaustion in RD 3 because he literally spent most of RD 2 going at full blast with his GnP and groundwork. With Gregor you'll usually see him just lay on top of a fighter until they've become tired, and then he'll start going off with the GnP. If Gregor was going off like Khabib did against Conor in RD 2, I have no doubt he'd also be tired as well. I don't think any fighter in the UFC wouldn't be moderately exhausted after that offensive onslaught.

 

[Shammon]

Gillespie has yet to face a single person with good TDD. Or even a good fighter at all now that I think about it.

I don't think he beats anyone in the top 5. He would probably get stopped by Raging Al, Conor, Tony, and Lee. Khabib would probably TKO him rather easily, Gregor isn't stopping his takedowns.

 

[KantoTerror]

Gregor is probably the next best wrestler in law....but khabib poses size and better striking.

 

[JustOnce]

Here's where your argument falls apart: Frankie wrestled at Clarion yes, which is a D2 school in every sport BUT wrestling, which they are in fact D1. Wanna know who else went to a school that is D2 in every sport BUT wrestling? Gillespie. Like Koscheck, he attended Edinboro on a wrestling scholarship.

Edinboro University is a small college western PA much like Clarion and much like Clarion, they have an outstanding wrestling program. Get the fuck out of here with your no-homework doing ass.

Clarion is a D2 school. HUGE difference between D1 champion and D2 finalist level. Im not saying Frankie is not a good wrestler but there are levels to this.

Man, I thought we weren't supposed to see someone get murdered on sherdog.

DAMN.

 

[Mixedfights]

I LOL at people thinking Khabib is fighting again at 155.

After suspension dude fights at 170 or retires.

 

[Elway7]

I mean at the end of the day we all know this fight will never happen because there have been frequent comments before/after conor fight strongly hinting there are only a few fights left for khabib.

 

[Pakman]

Based upon accomplishments Gregor is a better wrestler....
Khabib's striking is only sightly better than journeyman...
Gregor has never appeared even remotely tired in any of his 13 fights...

Khabib is leagues better of a grappler.

 

[wufabufa]

Man, I thought we weren't supposed to see someone get murdered on sherdog.

DAMN.

I aim to please

 

[kahiljabroni]

People have a hard time recognizing greatness until they see them run through an entire division. The dude showed signs of greatness last night. He just looked different...that was total domination. He could very well be the next great lightweight

 

[Deleted member 556651]

Could be. Gregor is a better wrestler and just as relentless. He is smaller tho but he does have better cardio. The question is how much will his age effect him, when does Khabib go to 170/65, how much can he keep improving and will Khabib opt out for Islam. Islam vs Gregz would be a great, great fight to make. I actually think Gregor beats a bunch of top ten fighters, steam rolls Barboza and very likely could beat Conor and Tony IMO.

hes not a better wrestler or better cardio just cause you said so LOL hes fighting scrubs that khabib will melt.

 

[Deleted member 556651]

People have a hard time recognizing greatness until they see them run through an entire division. The dude showed signs of greatness last night. He just looked different...that was total domination. He could very well be the next great lightweight

makhachev outwrestles him. makhachev has fought better wrestlers than he did and dominated still. nik lentz and chris wade. lentz have some of the best wrestling tds in lightweight and still was outwrestled.