Rewatching the Khabib v mccregor fight without the extra hype or emotion involved during first watch it was obvious to see the amount of leeway Conor was given. Holding the fence he was warned about and continued with no punishment. Illegal knee that was obvious and Joe called it, but again nada. Holding shorts, etc was ignored.
That fight proved who had a better chin to me and that conors game needs to evolve, as any grappler will drain and destroy him.
How did the fight not get stopped in the 2nd round? The pounding was severe and he had no reply to it.
Thats the last ill say of that here.
Dustins move to lightweight and his progression has been good and I believe has a better tool set than khabibs other opponents. Khabib trains hard, doesn't underestimate opponents (training with pro boxer at AKA), respects (most) opponents and delivers.
Rewatching the McGregor fight too, and here are first thoughts.
Conor clearly looked a notch slower than he did two years prior against Eddie Alvarez. You can watch both fights and the difference in Conor's "zip" and "snap" is night and day. Athletes age differently, Conor clearly looked older. The years off during the Mayweather ordeal probably robbed us of two three "Prime Conor" performances
On the flip side, I also have to politely disagree with
V4skunk
. I think Conor trained meticulously for Khabib. Conor's counter-grappling and takedown defense were the best ever I've seen from him in this fight. People will say "but KHABIB took him down." Of course he did. KHABIB takes everyone down. Conor actually did a really good job minimizing damage done in the first two rounds. He lost both rounds decisively, don't get me wrong. But he was well trained and prepared for the KHABIB attack. Bottom line is Conor can train in grappling for years straight and still not catch up to Khabib's lifetime of the experience.
The fight basically was over after when KHABIB clipped Conor with they vicous right hand. That was a hellacious shot. Beautiful throw. Conor's only path to victory was to minimize the grappling as much as possible and land shots whenever an opening arose. KHABIB beat him to the punch, literally.
Wrapping back up to what I started with:
28 year old "Eddie Alvarez" Conor still loses to KHABIB, but I think its closer. KHABIB is just the worst possible matchup for Conor, period. He's a nightmare for anyone and almost an impossibility for fighters like Conor.
I think KHABIB beats Dustin but I think it's gonna be his toughest fight yet. I'm anticipating three clear rounds for KHABIB and two close rounds that could be scored either way but majority score for Dustin.
I think Dustin is "fresher" than Conor, I think he has much better cardio, and a better camp. All due respect to SBG Ireland and Coach Kav but I don't think they are on Mike Brown/ATTs level.
I typed this on my phone; sorry for typos
Edit
Also, as always, these are just my opinions. I'm just a fan, I know I'm not an expert. I'm wrong all the time on a weekly basis
