Official MMA discussion thread pt 2: UFC 268 in MSG Usman vs Colby 2, Rose vs Zhang 2

[HarthorneWingo]

Why would Khabib fight if he was fasting for Ramadan? Wouldn't the fight take place November-December if that were the case to have it after Ramadan?

Khabib will be fully ready to fight in September, maybe August but that could be pushing it. But Conor has to fight Justin Goethe first. Bwahahaha

We should be able to make that fight relatively soon. Maybe April. Then if Conor should happen to beat Justin, he could then fight Khabib in September.

I got Conor in that fight against Justin.

Oh good.

[GEOLINK]

Khabib will be fully ready to fight in September, maybe August but that could be pushing it. But Conor has to fight Justin Goethe first. Bwahahaha

We should be able to make that fight relatively soon. Maybe April. Then if Conor should happen to beat Justin, he could then fight Khabib in September.

I got Conor in that fight against Justin.

Oh good.

[HarthorneWingo]

I got Conor in that fight against Justin.

Oh good.

Coach Kavnaugh (I like him) wants Gaethje but at 170, which I thought was interesting. Why would he (and Justin) want that when both want Khabib's belt? That doesn't make any sense to me unless Conor just sees it as a good money fight while he waits for the winner of Usman vs. Jorge. If Conor is going to stay at 170, then I'd like to see him fight either Wonderboy or Woodley instead. Can you imagine Conor vs. Colby?

[GEOLINK]

Oh good.

Coach Kavnaugh (I like him) wants Gaethje but at 170, which I thought was interesting. Why would he (and Justin) want that when both want Khabib's belt?

I think it's more to do with Conor not wanting to cut weight unless it's for a title.

[GEOLINK]

Oh good.

Coach Kavnaugh (I like him) wants Gaethje but at 170, which I thought was interesting. Why would he (and Justin) want that when both want Khabib's belt? That doesn't make any sense to me unless Conor just sees it as a good money fight while he waits for the winner of Usman vs. Jorge. If Conor is going to stay at 170, then I'd like to see him fight either Wonderboy or Woodley instead. Can you imagine Conor vs. Colby?

I don't think Conor is staying at 70. He'll fight Masvidal or Justin or Nate at 70 and then move down for Khabib.

[waya]

Tony is finishing khabib so there will be no rematch.

probably. the glorification of khabib goes way too far

hes good at controlling legs, ground and poound cuz hes naturally very powerful and its soooo hard to get him off.

he has no chin, suspect striking and will lose at some point like every other human being in MMA. It will happen to JBJ as well sooner or later (not counting that DQ loss).

Tony is very dangerous off the back. like i said many times in this thread, Tony is the man that has the best chances, beating khabib on paper

//EDIT

i also have strong believe Gaethje would beat khabib, but unfortunately hes the odd man out in this whole picture

He ate shots from Dustin, Barboza, Michael Johnson, Conor, RDA etc and was barely phased. He hasn't been dropped in his career. Ao how does he have "no chin" again?

[waya]

I know you despise Conor - and rightfully so for his antics. But you can’t deny the quality opponents that he’s beat: Aldo, Diaz, Cowboy, Diamond, Mendes, Alvarez and Holloway

also conor had literally no camp for that fight and still took 1 round off khabib, which noone did before.. so yea these gifs is all conor haters have right now

Is this what the Conor nuthuggers are telling themselves to justify how badly he was beaten? His team was going on about how great he looked, how prepared he was, how much they drilled etc. But now all of the sudden he had literally no camp?

@7:21

Watch on YouTube

@:59

Watch on YouTube

The guy trained his azz off and was bested by a superior fighter. Get over it

[waya]

Ohhhhh thats why he wants the rematch... riiiight. gotchu

It probably has something to do with there being more difficult fighters available. Slapping Conor around isn't going to help his legacy.

Only reason this rematch will eventually happen, is because Conor's privilege of having a large fanbase and being Dana's favorite. He was never going to actually earn his rematch like most fighters have to.

The latest rumor is that Bob Arum and Dana White are talking Terence Crawford fighting Conor in a 1+1 MMA and Boxing. Idk if it's real, I don't care for it...but it frees up Khabib for Gaethje

Real talk...I NEED to see these Dagestan Sambo killers face all american wrestlers. Islam Makchaev just ducked Kevin Lee in my book. Askarov gave up multiple trips to Tim Elliot who isn't elite with the takedown game (great scrambler and submission fighter but not great at takedowns or maintaining position). Khabib hasn't fought the elite wrestlers either, but Al had some success and Tibau gave him hell (and took him down). So I need Gaethje to get a look and Lee to make his run too. I really just want to see the dominant grapplers of our era all go up against each other. Get Conor out of here, he can fight Masvidal for a fun stand up war.

I thought it turned out the UFC didn't want to make that fight yet? Islam is on record begging for that fight for years now, back before Lee started racking up L's. Not sure why he would back out now, it would still help him considerably in the rankings.

[j4remi]

The latest rumor is that Bob Arum and Dana White are talking Terence Crawford fighting Conor in a 1+1 MMA and Boxing. Idk if it's real, I don't care for it...but it frees up Khabib for Gaethje

Real talk...I NEED to see these Dagestan Sambo killers face all american wrestlers. Islam Makchaev just ducked Kevin Lee in my book. Askarov gave up multiple trips to Tim Elliot who isn't elite with the takedown game (great scrambler and submission fighter but not great at takedowns or maintaining position). Khabib hasn't fought the elite wrestlers either, but Al had some success and Tibau gave him hell (and took him down). So I need Gaethje to get a look and Lee to make his run too. I really just want to see the dominant grapplers of our era all go up against each other. Get Conor out of here, he can fight Masvidal for a fun stand up war.

I thought it turned out the UFC didn't want to make that fight yet? Islam is on record begging for that fight for years now, back before Lee started racking up L's. Not sure why he would back out now, it would still help him considerably in the rankings.

Islam has said he’d be down but it’s been lee who was begging for the fight. Even though Islam is lower ranked. Last time, Lee had to “settle” for much more well known and higher ranked RDA. This time around, similar situation. Both guys say that they want the fight, Lee makes a public callout and Islam claims he’s down...then after a lengthy inaction, lee winds up taking a higher ranked, higher profile opponent.

In this case, after lee took do Bronx, Islam’s manager tried to paint Lee as ducking. As if Charles oliveira isn’t a worse style style match up and as if Lee would duck Islam even though he’s fought everyone put in front of him including some of the biggest killers in mma. I don’t buy it.

This also reminds me of khabib’s behavior. He did a lot of talking about Ferguson, but when it came time to take the fight he started calling out GSP. Same manager was out there trying goad Ferguson into fighting Gaethje as if they both don’t deserve a title shot already. I’d be willing to give the benefit of a doubt in one case but this is three times between Islam and Khabib; it’s a pattern imo.

[waya]

The latest rumor is that Bob Arum and Dana White are talking Terence Crawford fighting Conor in a 1+1 MMA and Boxing. Idk if it's real, I don't care for it...but it frees up Khabib for Gaethje

Real talk...I NEED to see these Dagestan Sambo killers face all american wrestlers. Islam Makchaev just ducked Kevin Lee in my book. Askarov gave up multiple trips to Tim Elliot who isn't elite with the takedown game (great scrambler and submission fighter but not great at takedowns or maintaining position). Khabib hasn't fought the elite wrestlers either, but Al had some success and Tibau gave him hell (and took him down). So I need Gaethje to get a look and Lee to make his run too. I really just want to see the dominant grapplers of our era all go up against each other. Get Conor out of here, he can fight Masvidal for a fun stand up war.

I thought it turned out the UFC didn't want to make that fight yet? Islam is on record begging for that fight for years now, back before Lee started racking up L's. Not sure why he would back out now, it would still help him considerably in the rankings.

Islam has said he’d be down but it’s been lee who was begging for the fight. Even though Islam is lower ranked. Last time, Lee had to “settle” for much more well known and higher ranked RDA. This time around, similar situation. Both guys say that they want the fight, Lee makes a public callout and Islam claims he’s down...then after a lengthy inaction, lee winds up taking a higher ranked, higher profile opponent.

In this case, after lee took do Bronx, Islam’s manager tried to paint Lee as ducking. As if Charles oliveira isn’t a worse style style match up and as if Lee would duck Islam even though he’s fought everyone put in front of him including some of the biggest killers in mma. I don’t buy it.

I mean, even Lee is now saying the UFC is responsible for the fight not happening yet (1 minute in):

Watch on YouTube

This also reminds me of khabib’s behavior. He did a lot of talking about Ferguson, but when it came time to take the fight he started calling out GSP. Same manager was out there trying goad Ferguson into fighting Gaethje as if they both don’t deserve a title shot already. I’d be willing to give the benefit of a doubt in one case but this is three times between Islam and Khabib; it’s a pattern imo.

That just seemed like a play for a big money fight. Khabib's been scheduled to fight Tony 5 times now, I dont think these guys would be signing on the dotted line if they were scared of one another.

[j4remi]

I mean, even Lee is now saying the UFC is responsible for the fight not happening yet (1 minute in):

Watch on YouTube

This also reminds me of khabib’s behavior. He did a lot of talking about Ferguson, but when it came time to take the fight he started calling out GSP. Same manager was out there trying goad Ferguson into fighting Gaethje as if they both don’t deserve a title shot already. I’d be willing to give the benefit of a doubt in one case but this is three times between Islam and Khabib; it’s a pattern imo.

That just seemed like a play for a big money fight. Khabib's been scheduled to fight Tony 5 times now, I dont think these guys would be signing on the dotted line if they were scared of one another.

Not that I don’t buy what Lee’s selling about taking the fight in Russia. But I just don’t buy that the UFC wouldn’t leap at the chance to put lee vs Islam in Brooklyn without input from Islam effecting the decision. It could be that they wanted the headlining role on that Russia card for sure. But it’s a decision I believe those dudes made together. To come out and accuse lee of ducking was corny and pretty obviously untrue (even in the scenario Lee is describing). Given that this isn’t the first time, I’m skeptical as all hell.

In terms of khabib chasing a money fight, it could be that. But again, the way his manager handled that was by claiming Ferguson was undeserving and would have to beat Gaethje to earn a shot. That’s bonkers. And although they have been booked four times before this, the one time that was inexcusable was when khabib missed weight and was on camera eating damned tiramisu. I’m not saying khabib is afraid of tony, but he calculated the risk/reward and tried to get an alternative this last time. For Ferguson it’s easier because khabib is the payday, no doubt. But the way the Dagestan team’s management has worked puts everything into question for me.

It’s a Mayweather approach to me. Not dumb, best way to bank biggest dollars. But in terms of fighting the best, at their best, that’s actually not the model.

[waya]

I mean, even Lee is now saying the UFC is responsible for the fight not happening yet (1 minute in):

Watch on YouTube

This also reminds me of khabib’s behavior. He did a lot of talking about Ferguson, but when it came time to take the fight he started calling out GSP. Same manager was out there trying goad Ferguson into fighting Gaethje as if they both don’t deserve a title shot already. I’d be willing to give the benefit of a doubt in one case but this is three times between Islam and Khabib; it’s a pattern imo.

That just seemed like a play for a big money fight. Khabib's been scheduled to fight Tony 5 times now, I dont think these guys would be signing on the dotted line if they were scared of one another.

In terms of khabib chasing a money fight, it could be that. But again, the way his manager handled that was by claiming Ferguson was undeserving and would have to beat Gaethje to earn a shot. That’s bonkers.

90% the sh*t Ali Abdelaziz says is just BS posturing. But he reps a large number of high profile MMA fighters and is definitely good at what he does (despite his antics). He even represents Justin, which is also probably why he wanted to make Justin vs. Tony happen.

And although they have been booked four times before this, the one time that was inexcusable was when khabib missed weight and was on camera eating damned tiramisu.

Tiramisu-gate was just a blown up meme. Theres no actual video of him eating it, it was his teammates. And the video wasn't during fight week like most people think, it was from the few months prior (not the embedded. the 20-30 minute promos they put on YouTube before the embedded.)

[HarthorneWingo]

The latest rumor is that Bob Arum and Dana White are talking Terence Crawford fighting Conor in a 1+1 MMA and Boxing. Idk if it's real, I don't care for it...but it frees up Khabib for Gaethje

Real talk...I NEED to see these Dagestan Sambo killers face all american wrestlers. Islam Makchaev just ducked Kevin Lee in my book. Askarov gave up multiple trips to Tim Elliot who isn't elite with the takedown game (great scrambler and submission fighter but not great at takedowns or maintaining position). Khabib hasn't fought the elite wrestlers either, but Al had some success and Tibau gave him hell (and took him down). So I need Gaethje to get a look and Lee to make his run too. I really just want to see the dominant grapplers of our era all go up against each other. Get Conor out of here, he can fight Masvidal for a fun stand up war.

I thought it turned out the UFC didn't want to make that fight yet? Islam is on record begging for that fight for years now, back before Lee started racking up L's. Not sure why he would back out now, it would still help him considerably in the rankings.

Islam has said he’d be down but it’s been lee who was begging for the fight. Even though Islam is lower ranked. Last time, Lee had to “settle” for much more well known and higher ranked RDA. This time around, similar situation. Both guys say that they want the fight, Lee makes a public callout and Islam claims he’s down...then after a lengthy inaction, lee winds up taking a higher ranked, higher profile opponent.

In this case, after lee took do Bronx, Islam’s manager tried to paint Lee as ducking. As if Charles oliveira isn’t a worse style style match up and as if Lee would duck Islam even though he’s fought everyone put in front of him including some of the biggest killers in mma. I don’t buy it.

This also reminds me of khabib’s behavior. He did a lot of talking about Ferguson, but when it came time to take the fight he started calling out GSP. Same manager was out there trying goad Ferguson into fighting Gaethje as if they both don’t deserve a title shot already. I’d be willing to give the benefit of a doubt in one case but this is three times between Islam and Khabib; it’s a pattern imo.

In his interview with Ariel after the Conor/Cowboy fight, Lee said he'd go to Russia to fight Islam.

As for Conor vs. Crawford one and one fight, does anyone really care? Just sounds like a publicity stunt just to sucker in the casual fight fan for the curiosity of it. But that's all that is, imo. I'm curious what you think about that one. Is Conor ducking all these other fighters at 155 and 170. There are a bunch who can I think can kick his ass.

[NoStatsGuy]

I know you despise Conor - and rightfully so for his antics. But you can’t deny the quality opponents that he’s beat: Aldo, Diaz, Cowboy, Diamond, Mendes, Alvarez and Holloway

also conor had literally no camp for that fight and still took 1 round off khabib, which noone did before.. so yea these gifs is all conor haters have right now

Is this what the Conor nuthuggers are telling themselves to justify how badly he was beaten? His team was going on about how great he looked, how prepared he was, how much they drilled etc. But now all of the sudden he had literally no camp?

@7:21

Watch on YouTube

@:59

Watch on YouTube

The guy trained his azz off and was bested by a superior fighter. Get over it

dude.. if you know anything about fighting and are not an ignorant khabib fanboy, cuz u hate conor so much, you have to admit conor didnt look right in that fight compared to all his other fights. These videos are UFC promotion, you think thats the only truth? lmfao buddy

there are various interviews, even before the khabib fight, where kavanagh said he wont work with conor anymore, if he didnt commit to a real camp. google that **** urself, i dont care if you believe it. I think Kavanagh is an honest man, i dont see a reason why that should be a lie.

im not a conor nuthugger and i said multiple times, that conor is an idiot for his issues outside of fighting. Conor did not have a real camp and he looked like **** vs khabib and still won a round.

khabib got wobbled by iaquinta, which was kinda recently... can u imgaine conor touching him? yall guys need to chill with the conor hate and start being objective

[j4remi]

I mean, even Lee is now saying the UFC is responsible for the fight not happening yet (1 minute in):

Watch on YouTube

That just seemed like a play for a big money fight. Khabib's been scheduled to fight Tony 5 times now, I dont think these guys would be signing on the dotted line if they were scared of one another.

In terms of khabib chasing a money fight, it could be that. But again, the way his manager handled that was by claiming Ferguson was undeserving and would have to beat Gaethje to earn a shot. That’s bonkers.

90% the sh*t Ali Abdelaziz says is just BS posturing. But he reps a large number of high profile MMA fighters and is definitely good at what he does (despite his antics). He even represents Justin, which is also probably why he wanted to make Justin vs. Tony happen.

And although they have been booked four times before this, the one time that was inexcusable was when khabib missed weight and was on camera eating damned tiramisu.

Tiramisu-gate was just a blown up meme. Theres no actual video of him eating it, it was his teammates. And the video wasn't during fight week like most people think, it was from the few months prior (not the embedded. the 20-30 minute promos they put on YouTube before the embedded.)

Yeah, this is just excuses to me. Khabib missed weight, definitely. Lee was the one to call out islam repeatedly. That fight still hasn’t manifested. When it does, they can pop off at the mouth. For now; khabib did everything he could to fight a different opponent. Islam had a chance to fight his highest profile opponent for two years but keeps claiming no one with a name will fight him. These dudes only take these fights when there’s zero excuses to avoid them available.

[j4remi]

In his interview with Ariel after the Conor/Cowboy fight, Lee said he'd go to Russia to fight Islam.

As for Conor vs. Crawford one and one fight, does anyone really care? Just sounds like a publicity stunt just to sucker in the casual fight fan for the curiosity of it. But that's all that is, imo. I'm curious what you think about that one. Is Conor ducking all these other fighters at 155 and 170. There are a bunch who can I think can kick his ass.

Yeah, how ridiculous is it that Lee has to wait for islam to have home field advantage to fight him? That’s a lower ranked opponent who he has been calling out for years. Brooklyn made all the sense in the world.

I think Conor is just gonna pick the highest paying fight. Usman is calling out masvidal heavy right now and I don’t think Conor wants the smoke with those guys. Just watching the ufc leapfrog him past Gaethje makes me guess the whole Conor as stand-in challenger thing is the plan for the time being. The Crawford stuff is because he can’t get a high profile opponent in boxing, they need something to draw attention to him. I can’t see Conor making the mistake of letting Crawford make an example of him. That’s no mayweather fight, where Floyd took his time. Crawford will probably look to make a highlight.

[HarthorneWingo]

In his interview with Ariel after the Conor/Cowboy fight, Lee said he'd go to Russia to fight Islam.

As for Conor vs. Crawford one and one fight, does anyone really care? Just sounds like a publicity stunt just to sucker in the casual fight fan for the curiosity of it. But that's all that is, imo. I'm curious what you think about that one. Is Conor ducking all these other fighters at 155 and 170. There are a bunch who can I think can kick his ass.

Yeah, how ridiculous is it that Lee has to wait for islam to have home field advantage to fight him? That’s a lower ranked opponent who he has been calling out for years. Brooklyn made all the sense in the world.

I think Conor is just gonna pick the highest paying fight. Usman is calling out masvidal heavy right now and I don’t think Conor wants the smoke with those guys. Just watching the ufc leapfrog him past Gaethje makes me guess the whole Conor as stand-in challenger thing is the plan for the time being. The Crawford stuff is because he can’t get a high profile opponent in boxing, they need something to draw attention to him. I can’t see Conor making the mistake of letting Crawford make an example of him. That’s no mayweather fight, where Floyd took his time. Crawford will probably look to make a highlight.

It's hard to take Conor seriously if he does this Crawford thing. I mean, good for him for making money I guess but how is that good for the UFC? How is that good for MMA? Seems to me that Dana is turning into the Don King of MMA just caring about his own pockets rather than what's in the best interest of the organization and the sport. Conor fighting this one-on-one spoof with Crawfor isn't good for the UFC. It actually makes a mockery of it imo. Where's the plan here? Is Conor fighting at 170, at 155, in boxing, in MMA? Which combination is it? Fck if I know. Maybe GEO knows?

What I'm really hating on Conor about is that he doesn't appear to me to have an honor or integrity. I don't know if he ever did. But that's my assessment of him.

[waya]

also conor had literally no camp for that fight and still took 1 round off khabib, which noone did before.. so yea these gifs is all conor haters have right now

Is this what the Conor nuthuggers are telling themselves to justify how badly he was beaten? His team was going on about how great he looked, how prepared he was, how much they drilled etc. But now all of the sudden he had literally no camp?

@7:21

Watch on YouTube

@:59

Watch on YouTube

The guy trained his azz off and was bested by a superior fighter. Get over it

dude.. if you know anything about fighting and are not an ignorant khabib fanboy, cuz u hate conor so much, you have to admit conor didnt look right in that fight compared to all his other fights. These videos are UFC promotion, you think thats the only truth? lmfao buddy

there are various interviews, even before the khabib fight, where kavanagh said he wont work with conor anymore, if he didnt commit to a real camp. google that **** urself, i dont care if you believe it. I think Kavanagh is an honest man, i dont see a reason why that should be a lie.

im not a conor nuthugger and i said multiple times, that conor is an idiot for his issues outside of fighting. Conor did not have a real camp and he looked like **** vs khabib and still won a round.

Kavanaugh was on Rogan days after the Khabib/Conor fight saying how much they trained his grappling defense in lieu of that fight. I'm sure Conor gave him the marching orders afterwards for any future interviews.

And as for Conor not looking like himself vs. Khabib: A) This is normal when you're fighting as if you're deathly afraid of a takedown. Throws off your rhythm and you keep your hands low (which is how Khabib was able to feint and throw that overhand). Michael Johnson and Dustin essentially said the same thing. B) Nearly all of Khabib's opponents (and the opponents of similar grapplers) end up not looking like themselves after the 1st/2nd round. It shouldn't be a revelation that defending wrestling transitions/submissions all while trying to get back on your feet saps you of your energy. Conor isn't special in this case. In fact, it was more likely to happen to him than anyone since his cardio is so dogsh*t.

khabib got wobbled by iaquinta, which was kinda recently... can u imgaine conor touching him? yall guys need to chill with the conor hate and start being objective

That literally never happened

[waya]

In terms of khabib chasing a money fight, it could be that. But again, the way his manager handled that was by claiming Ferguson was undeserving and would have to beat Gaethje to earn a shot. That’s bonkers.

90% the sh*t Ali Abdelaziz says is just BS posturing. But he reps a large number of high profile MMA fighters and is definitely good at what he does (despite his antics). He even represents Justin, which is also probably why he wanted to make Justin vs. Tony happen.

And although they have been booked four times before this, the one time that was inexcusable was when khabib missed weight and was on camera eating damned tiramisu.

Tiramisu-gate was just a blown up meme. Theres no actual video of him eating it, it was his teammates. And the video wasn't during fight week like most people think, it was from the few months prior (not the embedded. the 20-30 minute promos they put on YouTube before the embedded.)

Yeah, this is just excuses to me. Khabib missed weight, definitely.

I'm not disputing the fact that Khabib missed weight, just that the tiramisu stuff was opportunistic editing by the UFC countdown guys.

Lee was the one to call out islam repeatedly. That fight still hasn’t manifested. When it does, they can pop off at the mouth. For now; khabib did everything he could to fight a different opponent. Islam had a chance to fight his highest profile opponent for two years but keeps claiming no one with a name will fight him. These dudes only take these fights when there’s zero excuses to avoid them available.

There's video of Islam consistently calling out Kevin Lee going back 3 years now. And he's been vocal about it lately too, not just Lee. Not sure why you're jumping on the "Islam is scared" train of thought when all of the evidence is showing the UFC is behind this. I highly doubt the dude is afraid of Lee, especially after Al and RDA schooled him. Anyways, he's fighting Ferreira now apparently, who has looked like a killer in his own right. If Islam and Kevin both win, it sets them up to co-main a card or headline a smaller card.

[blanko]

What do you expect Khabib fans to say to that?

Even if that were true, that's still Conor's fault.

Say if Conor beat a Khabib that was fasting for Ramadan. Would you say Conor never really beat Khabib but a dehydrated fighter?

Why would Khabib fight if he was fasting for Ramadan? Wouldn't the fight take place November-December if that were the case to have it after Ramadan?

It was just a hypothetical question.

I can't say if "Khabib was drinking, doing drugs, messing around" because he would never do that.

Kabib is just a bad stylistic matchup for connor.

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