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UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje

Khabib or Gaethje?

  • Total voters
    71
  • Poll closed .
Unknown Quantity

Unknown Quantity

Member
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UFC 254 | UFC

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Main & co-main on paper are bangers at the highest level. Khabib & Cannonier I think will win. We'll talk more once I've recovered from seeing team LoKo lose (Lomachenko & Korean z).

Edit: updated fight card.
 
Last edited:
pauljeremiah

pauljeremiah

Gold Member
Heart says Justin, head says Khabib. If Khabib gets him to the ground he will slowly pick Justin apart. So the longer this stays standing the better for Justin. Justin has way better takedown defence then Conor, Chad Mendez proved how awful Conor is when it comes to takedowns, so I hope that at least in the earlier rounds Justin can keep Khabib from taking him down and work on Khabib's legs with kicks and work his jab and left hook combo that fucked up Tony.
 
pr0cs

pr0cs

Member
Love them both, just want to see a good back and forth battle.
Picked Khabib but if he tries to play cute like he did with Conor I could see him taking real damage.
Wonder what kinda mindset Khabib will be in, hasn't fought in an empty arena yet and the loss of his dad.
 
GymWolf

GymWolf

Member
My heart say justin, my mind say khabib.

I just don't see justin defending takedowns for very long and he has zero ju jitsu from the bottom unlike tony.

Uncertain about jared vs bob, but i kinda wanna see cannonier vs tittysanya.
 
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SpiceRacz

SpiceRacz

Member
Gonna go with Justin. He's been on a fucking tear since that Poirier loss. If this ends up anything like the Khabib/Iaquinta fight, Gaethje is going to knock him out.
 
JimiNutz

JimiNutz

Banned
It's so hard to bet against Khabib but Gaethje is def the best kind of match up for him to make it competitive.

Under normal circumstances I imagine that Khabib is still able to out wrestle Gaethje and take him down at some point. I do favour Gaethje on the feet though and hope he can avoid the takedowns and deal some damage early.

I suppose the big question over Khabib is how he performs given the relatively recent passing of his Father. I'm not expecting it to impact him too much but you never know...

Definitely rooting for Gaethje either way and believe that he has the best chance in the division of overcome Khabib.
 
manfestival

manfestival

Member
I won't go against the undefeated Champ. Though I will say, Justin have the knockout potential. He put a clinic on Tony. Khabib has shown weakness to well placed strikes. Hopefully that middleweight fight will be decent.

Looks like this will be a much better PPV than the last UFC.
 
Krappadizzle

Krappadizzle

Member
Great card. Kinda annoyed I completely forgot about it and was planning a huge Halloween blowout for my buddies that are leaving the following week. Kinda secretly hope it gets canceled.

I'm on the fence. I really want to see Khabib vs. Ferguson, but Gaethje is a fucking monster too. Ever since he fought Dustin P. I've been a fan. Dude puts it on the line EVERY single time. ALL OUT!

Gonna be a great card. I'm expecting a Khabib victory, but hoping to see Justin surprise me. I tend to root for the underdog. And the underdog being American helps too. Either way, it's gonna be great.

-------------------------------------------

I'm really hoping that we see Bobby Knuckles back in form too. He looked fucking excellent against Till and you can see he has that fire again that seemed to diminish by the time Adesayna got to him.
 
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highrider

highrider

Banned
I’m going to be the guy that not only thinks a Justin will win, but win in a similar manner to the Ferguson fight. I think they both have similar talent levels, but Justin is a superior athlete. You can never count out a great grappler like Khabib but I really don’t see him hanging with Justin.
 
GymWolf

GymWolf

Member
highrider said:
I’m going to be the guy that not only thinks a Justin will win, but win in a similar manner to the Ferguson fight. I think they both have similar talent levels, but Justin is a superior athlete. You can never count out a great grappler like Khabib but I really don’t see him hanging with Justin.
Click to expand...
Why you think that justin is the superior athlete??
 
JimiNutz

JimiNutz

Banned
Yeah his boxing is very unorthodox but effective.
Classic wrestler turned striker with immense power in his hands.

Stylistically this should be an incredible match up. Usually when you get two great wrestlers with decent enough hands it turns into a wild brawl.
 
highrider

highrider

Banned
GymWolf said:
Why you think that justin is the superior athlete??
Click to expand...
He clearly is. Footwork, hands, speed, lateral movement and explosiveness. Guy is doing flying back flips and shit. Khabib is more of a plodding guy but he’s just relentless. Khabib is a great athlete in his own right but more for his fluidity on the ground and conditioning. It’s funny you and I always disagree on these fights but I enjoy the disagreements lol.
 
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Ornlu

Ornlu

Banned
highrider said:
He clearly is. Footwork, hands, speed, lateral movement and explosiveness. Guy is doing flying back flips and shit. Khabib is more of a plodding guy but he’s just relentless. Khabib is a great athlete in his own right but more for his fluidity on the ground and conditioning. It’s funny you and I always disagree on these fights but I enjoy the disagreements lol.
Click to expand...

For sure. Gaethje packs some serious speed and burst into everything. I really enjoy watching him more, now that he seems to have fixed some of the glaring holes in his game. He's got something rare and special with his mix of athleticism, power, and complete lack of fear toward taking damage. Not a style I see as leading toward him having a super long career at the top, but for the moment he looks fantastic.

Khabib is someone I admire a lot, we well. There's something about a relentless, aggressive grinder that I find amazing. Watching world class fighters get mauled, manhandled, and ground down to paste is always a crazy thing to see. I always watched GSP for this reason, as well, though he different in that he was not the same kind of finisher that Khabib is.

Going to be a great fight!
 
GymWolf

GymWolf

Member
highrider said:
He clearly is. Footwork, hands, speed, lateral movement and explosiveness. Guy is doing flying back flips and shit. Khabib is more of a plodding guy but he’s just relentless. Khabib is a great athlete in his own right but more for his fluidity on the ground and conditioning. It’s funny you and I always disagree on these fights but I enjoy the disagreements lol.
Click to expand...
It wasn't a disagreement, i was just curious.
 
Unknown Quantity

Unknown Quantity

Member
GymWolf said:
Holy fuck i just discovered that ufc 254 is gonna be aired in european time, so the card start at 16:30 and the main event is at 20:00, basically i have to avoid internet and spoilers for an entire day before seeing the fights sunday morning...

thank god i discovered this before saturday :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Main card starts 11am Western, 2pm Eastern, so yeh 7pm Cent Europe. Krappadizzle Krappadizzle event should be at convenient time if you're in States & Europe. Then party.

JimiNutz said:
Yeah his boxing is very unorthodox but effective.
Classic wrestler turned striker with immense power in his hands.

Stylistically this should be an incredible match up. Usually when you get two great wrestlers with decent enough hands it turns into a wild brawl.
Click to expand...

We should get the highest level of grappling at Lightweight in the world. Gaethje is better prepared since working with Whitman, he doesn't expend as much energy & is less Homer in approach. Khabib should stick to father's plan, and those words will carry a lot more weight since he passed recently. If we get a ref that won't stop it prematurely, FOTY.

Mhmmm 2077 said:
I really hoped Ferguson would beat Khabib, but I guess that fight is never gonna happen... Khabib's gonna win and then announce the end of career.
Click to expand...

He wants 30-0 & last fight against GSP. He wants to retire & do what his dad did, train current & next gen athletes in the brand new facility in Dagestan.





 
Krappadizzle

Krappadizzle

Member
Unknown Quantity Unknown Quantity Thank you for that info bub, I had no clue. And you are absolutely right, I'm in the states and it's coming on at 2p.m. is perfect for me. I'll be able to go to my Pop's house, barbecue, watch the fights, bring my daughter home to stay with my wife and then head out to the Halloween party for my buddies.

I didn't even look at the time of the fight as I just figured it was normal fight times.

Thanks again, you made my day!

------------------------------------------


I keep thinking back to when Vick said that Gaethje was the Homer Simpson of MMA because it's kind of spot on. And I say that in the most admirable way possible. Gaethje is a fan's fighter. Put's it all on the line every time. He's not afraid or even ashamed to lose because he puts his heart in it 100% of the time. It's the same reason I'll always have a soft spot for Ferguson, Poirier and Gaethje. They've all been challenged, have had some tough losses and have come back to still give their best every time. I'll watch them every single time I can if given the opportunity.

It's hard to deny the force that is Khabib though. It's even harder to dislike the bastard. He's what every fighter should strive to be like in my opinion. He's respectful, tough as shit, and works hard. It's hard to deny he's earned everything he has.
 
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Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Maxwell Jacob Friedman

leads to fear. Fear leads to xbox.
People saying Khabib wont be able to handle justins striking forget that Khabib mauled Conor. Conor may not have as much power but he is prob one of the best strikers and has one if not thee best left hand in the ufc when it comes to counter. Khabib almost murdered Conor, I think he'll be fine against justin.
 
JimiNutz

JimiNutz

Banned
Unknown Quantity said:
We should get the highest level of grappling at Lightweight in the world. Gaethje is better prepared since working with Whitman, he doesn't expend as much energy & is less Homer in approach. Khabib should stick to father's plan, and those words will carry a lot more weight since he passed recently. If we get a ref that won't stop it prematurely, FOTY.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm expecting a FOTY candidate for sure. I'm hoping Gaethje can stuff the takedowns early on and think he is certainly capable of it. If he lands some damage early then we should be in for one hell of a fight.

The Hate said:
People saying Khabib wont be able to handle justins striking forget that Khabib mauled Conor. Conor may not have as much power but he is prob one of the best strikers and has one if not thee best left hand in the ufc when it comes to counter. Khabib almost murdered Conor, I think he'll be fine against justin.
Click to expand...

I definitely understand what you're saying and agree to a degree but as a striker if you're worried/cautious about the takedown (like Conor was) then that definitely has an impact on your striking as you're constantly having to potentially drop your hands to stuff/sprawl. I'm pretty sure when Khabib landed that big right hand on Conor he faked the single leg first and Conor momentarily moved to defend it before getting cracked.

Gaethje should be more confident in his grappling and should therefore be a lot more confident and loose with his hands. I think he will definitely land on Khabib at some point unless Khabib does easily take him down early on.
 
MastAndo

MastAndo

Member
The Hate said:
People saying Khabib wont be able to handle justins striking forget that Khabib mauled Conor. Conor may not have as much power but he is prob one of the best strikers and has one if not thee best left hand in the ufc when it comes to counter. Khabib almost murdered Conor, I think he'll be fine against justin.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's strange to me as well. I feel like I'm missing something. He made pretty easy work of one of the best strikers the UFC has ever seen in McGregor, and Dustin Poirier is no slouch in the striking department either. I'm not sure how striking prowess should be seen to spell danger to Khabib at this point when nothing we've seen would indicate that. On top of that, Khabib is no slouch on his feet either.
 
SpiceRacz

SpiceRacz

Member
The Hate said:
People saying Khabib wont be able to handle justins striking forget that Khabib mauled Conor. Conor may not have as much power but he is prob one of the best strikers and has one if not thee best left hand in the ufc when it comes to counter. Khabib almost murdered Conor, I think he'll be fine against justin.
Click to expand...

To be fair, Conor defended those takedowns pretty well. He also won a round, which I can't recall anyone else doing recently against Khabib. I also recall him saying his foot was fucked up going into that fight. Not saying the outcome would be any different the 2nd time around.
 
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