UFC 242 (9/7, Abu Dhabi): Khabib vs. Poirier

Post #1 » by **CPT** » Mon Sep 2, 2019 2:57 pm

Had to hear about this from my filthy casual coworker. The rest of the card doesn't particularly excite me (though it does have 7 fights where at least one fighter's last name ends in V, so that's something I guess).

Does Poirier have any chance here? He's clearly one of those guys who has become good, but I haven't quite updated my opinion of him yet.

Post #2 » by **Duke4life831** » Mon Sep 2, 2019 4:44 pm

Unless his grappling has significantly improved in the last year, I think this will be Khabib vs Barbosa 2.0. Before Eddie Alvarez threw the illegal elbow, he got Dustin up against the fence and easily slid into full mount. If Alvarez can do that that easily, I think Khabib will be able to do whatever he wants.

Only chance Dustin has is if Khabib pulls a Al 2.0 and tries to stand with Dustin for a couple rounds. If Khabib focuses on his wrestling, it will probably be easy work for him.

REDDzone · Post #3 » by **REDDzone** » Wed Sep 4, 2019 1:39 pm

Does Khabib go full authoritarian/totalitarian tour after winning this fight? I'm thinking Kadyrov for sure, MAYBE Putin. IDK if beating the likes of Poirier gets you Erdogan though.

Post #4 » by **Headliner** » Wed Sep 4, 2019 7:22 pm

Khabib vs Dustin is such a blah fight for me.

I want to see Khabib fight the best but I feel like his resume is padded with 5-8 guys and then a bunch of bums I’ve never heard of.

Dustin is another guy that, even though he’s ranked high like Barbosa, I don’t view him any differently than a 5-8 type.

Beating Dustin, Barbosa, Al, RDA, and Johnson...sure that’s good but I’m not thrilled by it. Conor is obviously the biggest name but that’s a gimme fight for Khabib. I’ll give him that one though but Conor as your biggest win as wrestler isn’t a GOAT worthy resume builder

I really wish we could have got to see him vs GSP, it would have been the best way to gauge how good he really is

Post #5 » by **CPT** » Thu Sep 5, 2019 2:45 pm

Headliner wrote:Khabib vs Dustin is such a blah fight for me.

I want to see Khabib fight the best but I feel like his resume is padded with 5-8 guys and then a bunch of bums I’ve never heard of.

Dustin is another guy that, even though he’s ranked high like Barbosa, I don’t view him any differently than a 5-8 type.

Beating Dustin, Barbosa, Al, RDA, and Johnson...sure that’s good but I’m not thrilled by it. Conor is obviously the biggest name but that’s a gimme fight for Khabib. I’ll give him that one though but Conor as your biggest win as wrestler isn’t a GOAT worthy resume builder

I really wish we could have got to see him vs GSP, it would have been the best way to gauge how good he really is

Not many guys in any division have a resume loaded with top 5 guys. When they get to that point, they fight another top 5 guy, one of them loses, and drops down to that 5-8 range.

I'll agree that the names on his resume don't really blow you away, but 27-0 (11-0 UFC) in the best division in the sport is a real accomplishment.

A fight with Tony Ferguson is long overdue, and I hope we get to see that next. Wouldn't be surprised if Khabib gets tied up for another year of Conor nonsense.

REDDzone · Post #6 » by **REDDzone** » Thu Sep 5, 2019 3:11 pm

Yea, I'm not a fan, but Khabib is second best p4p fighter in the sport right now. Never lost. No other champion besides Jones can say that, as far as I'm aware. He lost at Combat Sambo which is basically MMA in a gi, but still, if we are talking strictly MMA, the dude is dominance personified.

Joker · Post #7 » by **Joker** » Thu Sep 5, 2019 5:21 pm

I've been thinking that Poirier could connect clean on Khabib a number of times and it still may not matter. Poirier rocked Holloway a number of times and Holloway was able to fight through it. That doesn't bode well for Poirier against Khabib, where Khabib isn't going to take near the damage that Holloway took, given that the Holloway fight was virtually all stand-up.

Not only is Poirier going to have to catch Khabib, he's gonna have to catch him perfectly flush. Poirier rocked Holloway a number of times, even with a knee to the forehead, and Holloway hung in there. I don't think Khabib's chin is any worse than Holloway's. Khabib has shown that he can take a shot. And if Poirier rocks Khabib and Khabib wobbles to the ground, he may just dig his way out with his ground game.

Joker · Post #8 » by **Joker** » Thu Sep 5, 2019 5:40 pm

Maybe in the 4th-5th rounds, if it gets there, Khabib may struggle more with takedowns and it'll become a standup fight...and Poirier finishes him...maybe? But Khabib took down Conor in the 4th round. He took down Iaquinta in the 5th round. Some grapplers struggle with takedowns in the later rounds as fatigue and sweat/slipperiness become factors, but Khabib is the exception. Poirier's striking could become quite compromised by the championship rounds too if he's had to deal with Khabib mauling him for the first 3 rounds.

Jasen777 · Post #9 » by **Jasen777** » Thu Sep 5, 2019 5:56 pm

Joker wrote:I've been thinking that Poirier could connect clean on Khabib a number of times and it still may not matter.

I don't disagree. But everyone is invincible until they aren't.

Joker · Post #10 » by **Joker** » Thu Sep 5, 2019 7:10 pm

Jasen777 wrote:
Joker wrote:I've been thinking that Poirier could connect clean on Khabib a number of times and it still may not matter.

But everyone is invincible until they aren't.

Indeed - one of the inherent biases of predicting these kinds of fights.

cowboyronnie · Post #11 » by **cowboyronnie** » Thu Sep 5, 2019 11:51 pm

Dustin on Teddy Atlas's show, talking to two boxing guys who just love a hard working white dude, neglected to mention that the belt and championship are an interim. They proceeded like he was this champ, didn't know about Khabib, he never enlightened. Cool. He is a hard working guy, who deserves this morally, let him have his glory?

cowboyronnie · Post #12 » by **cowboyronnie** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 2:43 am

Edson Barboza's body is **** nuts.

cowboyronnie · Post #13 » by **cowboyronnie** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 2:09 pm

It's going to be weird to be a lady fighting in this event. There won't be a single woman in attendance, presumably? Other than the few Westerners that might be there. And how will the men in the audience react? Are they going to be cheering and into the WMMA fights? Will some make a show of not watching?

I realize that Dubai and Abu Dhabi allow Westerners to live, like, in a parallel world where they can drink and show leg and whatnot. Also, the powerful are hiring Western prostitutes and stuff. So there is some ability to allow for the two worlds to co-exist.

Plus, I've seen Khabib interact with female fighters and he is relaxed and seemingly cool. And, also, British boxing events have almost all-male audiences even when female fighters (Katie Taylor) are in the ring.

But I still expect it to be a strange atmosphere for the two WMMA fights.

REDDzone · Post #14 » by **REDDzone** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 4:08 pm

cowboyronnie wrote:It's going to be weird to be a lady fighting in this event. There won't be a single woman in attendance, presumably? Other than the few Westerners that might be there. And how will the men in the audience react? Are they going to be cheering and into the WMMA fights? Will some make a show of not watching?

I realize that Dubai and Abu Dhabi allow Westerners to live, like, in a parallel world where they can drink and show leg and whatnot. Also, the powerful are hiring Western prostitutes and stuff. So there is some ability to allow for the two worlds to co-exist.

Plus, I've seen Khabib interact with female fighters and he is relaxed and seemingly cool. And, also, British boxing events have almost all-male audiences even when female fighters (Katie Taylor) are in the ring.

But I still expect it to be a strange atmosphere for the two WMMA fights.

I can't remember where the directive came from, but my understanding is that they distinctly wanted to feature women's fights in this event.

I'd be curious to know what interactions with Khabib/female fighters you saw. My understanding is that Khabib is super conservative with women, even refusing pictures with fans etc. in some circumstances. That doesn't apply when he's sliding in the DMs of insta chicks who aren't his wife of course, but publicly...ultra conservative.

Susan · Post #15 » by **Susan** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 4:17 pm

Read on Twitter

Susan · Post #16 » by **Susan** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 4:22 pm

REDDzone wrote:
cowboyronnie wrote:It's going to be weird to be a lady fighting in this event. There won't be a single woman in attendance, presumably? Other than the few Westerners that might be there. And how will the men in the audience react? Are they going to be cheering and into the WMMA fights? Will some make a show of not watching?

I realize that Dubai and Abu Dhabi allow Westerners to live, like, in a parallel world where they can drink and show leg and whatnot. Also, the powerful are hiring Western prostitutes and stuff. So there is some ability to allow for the two worlds to co-exist.

Plus, I've seen Khabib interact with female fighters and he is relaxed and seemingly cool. And, also, British boxing events have almost all-male audiences even when female fighters (Katie Taylor) are in the ring.

But I still expect it to be a strange atmosphere for the two WMMA fights.

I can't remember where the directive came from, but my understanding is that they distinctly wanted to feature women's fights in this event.

I'd be curious to know what interactions with Khabib/female fighters you saw. My understanding is that Khabib is super conservative with women, even refusing pictures with fans etc. in some circumstances. That doesn't apply when he's sliding in the DMs of insta chicks who aren't his wife of course, but publicly...ultra conservative.

What are you talking about?

Slo · Post #17 » by **Slo** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 4:39 pm

Someone tell Bruce Buffer Tbilisi, Georgia is not in the USA :lol:

Susan · Post #18 » by **Susan** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 5:00 pm

Khabib is going to lose this fight because of how sweaty they are/how hot it is there.

Slo · Post #19 » by **Slo** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 5:33 pm

Draw?!?

cowboyronnie · Post #20 » by **cowboyronnie** » Sat Sep 7, 2019 5:41 pm

REDDzone wrote:
cowboyronnie wrote:It's going to be weird to be a lady fighting in this event. There won't be a single woman in attendance, presumably? Other than the few Westerners that might be there. And how will the men in the audience react? Are they going to be cheering and into the WMMA fights? Will some make a show of not watching?

I realize that Dubai and Abu Dhabi allow Westerners to live, like, in a parallel world where they can drink and show leg and whatnot. Also, the powerful are hiring Western prostitutes and stuff. So there is some ability to allow for the two worlds to co-exist.

Plus, I've seen Khabib interact with female fighters and he is relaxed and seemingly cool. And, also, British boxing events have almost all-male audiences even when female fighters (Katie Taylor) are in the ring.

But I still expect it to be a strange atmosphere for the two WMMA fights.

I can't remember where the directive came from, but my understanding is that they distinctly wanted to feature women's fights in this event.

I'd be curious to know what interactions with Khabib/female fighters you saw. My understanding is that Khabib is super conservative with women, even refusing pictures with fans etc. in some circumstances. That doesn't apply when he's sliding in the DMs of insta chicks who aren't his wife of course, but publicly...ultra conservative.

With Nunes, I'm pretty sure. Nunes being doubly-sinful (triply-?).

I doubt the DMs thing. I think he's a man of integrity. But I could be wrong.