UFC 254: Khabib vs Justin G

[Headliner]

JG’s biggest mistake was going too many times to the leg kick. That was also his best move haha. He was really damaging Khabib with it, and it would have paid divided ends in later rounds. In that the second round, the pressure was so much less than the first. The both had used a ton of energy up. That was JGs opening to stay off him to defend the lunge and use his striking to pick at him. He was landing good shots and props to Khabib cause he was shaking off some bombs.
Khabib got ahold of that foot though and that’s game over. Khabib is too good, His grip strength is elite, he has small holes that you can capitalize on, but any little mistake and your done. Him getting your foot is almost an automatic takedown.

Good fight, JG is going to have some major regrets after this, but it’s all hindsight.

[REDDzone]

Not bad, but if we disregard PEDs then I think Jones has to still be considered the most dominant. Especially looking at his first 13 fights in the UFC (which is how many Khabib has). Interestingly it was his 14th fight (Gus) when he finally faced some adversity.

disgagree, gus/smith (kinda)/reyes fight were very close. many had reyes winning iirc. he has not looked good for a while.

khabib in 13 fights lost 1 (well 2 now) and the first was mcgregor is debatable consdierng how much he cheated. Khabib never looked in trouble, any fight.

guys like jones/silva will take hits for getting popped, to say otherwise is dumb. if lebron got hit with a ped suspension, do ppl think his goat convo would still be there lol. Jones needs to dominate heavyweight to help his rep back up. Provided he stops getting caught lol

very close...kinda? it was one of the worst blowouts of all time. JJ rolled him around like a toddler with playdough. zero challenge, zero competition.

I wonder if he meant Santos instead of Smith.

[High 5]

disgagree, gus/smith (kinda)/reyes fight were very close. many had reyes winning iirc. he has not looked good for a while.

khabib in 13 fights lost 1 (well 2 now) and the first was mcgregor is debatable consdierng how much he cheated. Khabib never looked in trouble, any fight.

guys like jones/silva will take hits for getting popped, to say otherwise is dumb. if lebron got hit with a ped suspension, do ppl think his goat convo would still be there lol. Jones needs to dominate heavyweight to help his rep back up. Provided he stops getting caught lol

Disregarding PEDs wasn't my stipulation (it's just for fun anyway) and I was talking about his first 13 fights since that is all Khabib has in the UFC. Also not sure what you mean about Khabib losing 1 or 2 fights including one to McGregor?

[ItsDanger]

Khabib was a great fighter but not sad he's retiring. His competition was lacking IMO. Too bad covid stopped him & Tony from finally fighting. I guess we'll never know.

5 wins last 3 years (only 2 fights in last 2 years?): Gaethje, Poirier, McGregor, Iaquinta, Barbosa.

[cowboyronnie]

disgagree, gus/smith (kinda)/reyes fight were very close. many had reyes winning iirc. he has not looked good for a while.

khabib in 13 fights lost 1 (well 2 now) and the first was mcgregor is debatable consdierng how much he cheated. Khabib never looked in trouble, any fight.

guys like jones/silva will take hits for getting popped, to say otherwise is dumb. if lebron got hit with a ped suspension, do ppl think his goat convo would still be there lol. Jones needs to dominate heavyweight to help his rep back up. Provided he stops getting caught lol

very close...kinda? it was one of the worst blowouts of all time. JJ rolled him around like a toddler with playdough. zero challenge, zero competition.

I wonder if he meant Santos instead of Smith.

right. that woudl make sense. JJ did not look good there.

[spykelee]

Great discussion on the Goat's!

If we mention mighty mouse and consider him to be close to or on Mt Rushmore, where does Henry rank? Personally I have him below MM as I thought mouse won that first fight.

Mine would be

GSP
Bones
Khabib

Errrr it gets tough here. Anderson sticking around and getting beat up hurts his legacy in my eyes. Sorta akin to the undertaker for any wrestling fans here.

Strictly on records and accomplishments... Henry would have a good case.

Personally I have mm over him but he just doesn't have the impressive wins or the drawing power to really be really be considered an all time great does he?

Sent from my SM-N975W using RealGM mobile app

[KL78192020]

Khabib was a great fighter but not sad he's retiring. His competition was lacking IMO. Too bad covid stopped him & Tony from finally fighting. I guess we'll never know.

5 wins last 3 years (only 2 fights in last 2 years?): Gaethje, Poirier, McGregor, Iaquinta, Barbosa.

He would've wrecked Tony. Not even close.

[Headliner]

Khabib was a great fighter but not sad he's retiring. His competition was lacking IMO. Too bad covid stopped him & Tony from finally fighting. I guess we'll never know.

5 wins last 3 years (only 2 fights in last 2 years?): Gaethje, Poirier, McGregor, Iaquinta, Barbosa.

He would've wrecked Tony. Not even close.

It’s speculation, you never know, and that’s the problem with Khabib.

[Headliner]

Khabib is so hard to judge because his resume is basically 7 guys and only 4 of them are worth mentioning. Sorry Michael Johnson, and Ragin Al on short notice lol.

When comparing Goats there’s so much that needs to be weighed. I think you need to consider:

Record
Titles Won
Titles defended
Number of wins in ufc (Pride/Bellator/SF major leagues)
Caliber of fighters beat ***
Diversity of fighters beat
Length of reign
Dominance
Wins in two divisions
Titles in two divisions

Caliber of fighters could be broken down more as number of:
Ranked opponents
Former champs
Current champs
Future champs

[Headliner]

Great discussion on the Goat's!

If we mention mighty mouse and consider him to be close to or on Mt Rushmore, where does Henry rank? Personally I have him below MM as I thought mouse won that first fight.

Mine would be

GSP
Bones
Khabib

Errrr it gets tough here. Anderson sticking around and getting beat up hurts his legacy in my eyes. Sorta akin to the undertaker for any wrestling fans here.

Strictly on records and accomplishments... Henry would have a good case.

Personally I have mm over him but he just doesn't have the impressive wins or the drawing power to really be really be considered an all time great does he?

Sent from my SM-N975W using RealGM mobile app

If im doing my Rushmore and it’s only 4.

Jones
GSP
Silva
Mouse


5 would be where the debate comes into play. That’s the real interesting question.

[Dupp]

If people don’t penalise MJ for his wizards days I don’t see why we should penalise Silva too much for his twilight years and losses. Same deal for Ali. Something like Ali’s last 3 losses are basically irrelevant to me.

[Susan]

If people don’t penalise MJ for his wizards days I don’t see why we should penalise Silva too much for his twilight years and losses. Same deal for Ali. Something like Ali’s last 3 losses are basically irrelevant to me.

PED bust tho.

GSP/Khabib are the greatest two fighters to never get popped.

[REDDzone]

If people don’t penalise MJ for his wizards days I don’t see why we should penalise Silva too much for his twilight years and losses. Same deal for Ali. Something like Ali’s last 3 losses are basically irrelevant to me.

PED bust tho.

GSP/Khabib are the greatest two fighters to never get popped.

It's just such a bad look for Silva that dude popped his first and only random test ever. Maybe it's just bad luck on his part, but the optics of that are horrible.

[clyde21]

Khabib was a great fighter but not sad he's retiring. His competition was lacking IMO. Too bad covid stopped him & Tony from finally fighting. I guess we'll never know.

5 wins last 3 years (only 2 fights in last 2 years?): Gaethje, Poirier, McGregor, Iaquinta, Barbosa.

that's because Khabib was suspended for 9 mos for the post Conor fight brawl, also covid...otherwise he most likely would've fought Tony (and I think he wins it regardless but we'll never know).

[Huffman]

My Rushmore is:
1. GSP I put GSP at the top because of the length of his career, how he evolved himself and the sport, and he won two titles.
2. Stipe Stipe's competition and KO numbers are impressive, especially for a guy who still works as a fire fighter.
3. Mighty Mouse Mouse was so dominate, but the lower weight class and losing to Cejudo knocks him down my list.
4. Khabib Khabib could easily rise up my list if he had more fights.

I won't put anyone with a history of PED usage up there. We've all scene Vitor on and off PEDs and it's just too much of an advantage for a fighter. It doesn't mean these guys were 100% clean but they never got caught.

I won't knock any of them for competition either as none of them ever ducked a fight as far as I remember.

[radeonboy]

Khabib over GSP as GOAT for me is not possible because Khabib inactivity/injuries the past few years. GSP has like 8 or 9 consecutive successful title defenses to Khabib's 3 or 4? And GSP had like some crazy number of title wins. As a whole GSP cleaned out the division, is a welterweight and middleweight champ, is class in and out of the octagon, a consummate professional. And GSP beat guys in the TRT era and is non drug cheat.

1. GSP
2. Fedor
3. Aldo
4. Mighty Mouse
5. Khabib

[cowboyronnie]

Khabib over GSP as GOAT for me is not possible because Khabib inactivity/injuries the past few years. GSP has like 8 or 9 consecutive successful title defenses to Khabib's 3 or 4? And GSP had like some crazy number of title wins. As a whole GSP cleaned out the division, is a welterweight and middleweight champ, is class in and out of the octagon, a consummate professional. And GSP beat guys in the TRT era and is non drug cheat.

1. GSP
2. Fedor
3. Aldo
4. Mighty Mouse
5. Khabib

Strong points.

Yeah, GSP has got to be there as #1.

But, damn, Aldo and Fedor? You writing from 2005? That Kanye West guy seems cool, yeah?

[Duke4life831]

Khabib over GSP as GOAT for me is not possible because Khabib inactivity/injuries the past few years. GSP has like 8 or 9 consecutive successful title defenses to Khabib's 3 or 4? And GSP had like some crazy number of title wins. As a whole GSP cleaned out the division, is a welterweight and middleweight champ, is class in and out of the octagon, a consummate professional. And GSP beat guys in the TRT era and is non drug cheat.

1. GSP
2. Fedor
3. Aldo
4. Mighty Mouse
5. Khabib

2-4 I have some issues. Fedor's resume is pretty weak when you break it down. His long stretch of never losing was filled with freak fights and washed up fighters. Aldo was still in his 20s when he lost to Conor, Aldo is 3-6 since turning 29. So its not like all his losses came with him fighting way past his physical prime or anything. Then when it comes to Mighty Mouse, who are the 2 biggest names he fought in his career? Cruz and Henry probably, he lost to both of them.

[radeonboy]

Khabib over GSP as GOAT for me is not possible because Khabib inactivity/injuries the past few years. GSP has like 8 or 9 consecutive successful title defenses to Khabib's 3 or 4? And GSP had like some crazy number of title wins. As a whole GSP cleaned out the division, is a welterweight and middleweight champ, is class in and out of the octagon, a consummate professional. And GSP beat guys in the TRT era and is non drug cheat.

1. GSP
2. Fedor
3. Aldo
4. Mighty Mouse
5. Khabib

Strong points.

Yeah, GSP has got to be there as #1.

But, damn, Aldo and Fedor? You writing from 2005? That Kanye West guy seems cool, yeah?

Who's Kanye West?

[Jasen777]

Who's Kanye West?

He went undefeated in Pride.