MMA

[Impractical Poster]

Khabib has a better chance of winning, but I think Ferguson deserves it more. Khabib just had his first significant fight in 2 and a half years. It's not so crazy to make him rebuild a bit before a title shot.

I agree. This would be the proper way to do it. But who's being proper? The UFC just gave Conor a title shot as his debut into the division. If Khabib can make enough noise, he may be able to land that gig before Tony. But, I don't think Conor is too keen on this matchup.

[lefty]

Khabib has a better chance of winning, but I think Ferguson deserves it more. Khabib just had his first significant fight in 2 and a half years. It's not so crazy to make him rebuild a bit before a title shot.

McGregor should be forced to drop the FW belt. Hell, he should already have been forced to a long time ago, when he decided to rematch Diaz instead of going back down to FW to defend against Edgar.

Khabib already has a dominant win over Ferguson's best win in RDA though. RDA- pre fighting Khabib was on a 5 fight winning streak. He then went on a 5 fight winning streak post fighting Khabib- including winning the lightweight title in a dominating fashion against Pettis and he beat Cerrone twice amongst those winning streaks aswell.

Johnson who Khabib just beat the absolute hell out of; has a win over Ferguson aswell.

[jujigatame]

Khabib has a better chance of winning, but I think Ferguson deserves it more. Khabib just had his first significant fight in 2 and a half years. It's not so crazy to make him rebuild a bit before a title shot.

I agree. This would be the proper way to do it. But who's being proper? The UFC just gave Conor a title shot as his debut into the division. If Khabib can make enough noise, he may be able to land that gig before Tony. But, I don't think Conor is too keen on this matchup.

Oh absolutely. "Deserves" doesn't mean much. Ultimately title shots go to whoever can draw the most PPV buys.

[Impractical Poster]

Khabib has a better chance of winning, but I think Ferguson deserves it more. Khabib just had his first significant fight in 2 and a half years. It's not so crazy to make him rebuild a bit before a title shot.

I agree. This would be the proper way to do it. But who's being proper? The UFC just gave Conor a title shot as his debut into the division. If Khabib can make enough noise, he may be able to land that gig before Tony. But, I don't think Conor is too keen on this matchup.

Oh absolutely. "Deserves" doesn't mean much. Ultimately title shots go to whoever can draw the most PPV buys.

I think Tony would pose a lot of problems for Conor. He is long, lanky, great chin, great conditioning, good punching power, unorthodox as hell. Not to mention his rolling submission attempt. It would be very interesting.

[jujigatame]

Khabib has a better chance of winning, but I think Ferguson deserves it more. Khabib just had his first significant fight in 2 and a half years. It's not so crazy to make him rebuild a bit before a title shot.

McGregor should be forced to drop the FW belt. Hell, he should already have been forced to a long time ago, when he decided to rematch Diaz instead of going back down to FW to defend against Edgar.

Khabib already has a dominant win over Ferguson's best win in RDA though. RDA- pre fighting Khabib was on a 5 fight winning streak. He then went on a 5 fight winning streak post fighting Khabib- including winning the lightweight title in a dominating fashion against Pettis and he beat Cerrone twice amongst those winning streaks aswell.

Johnson who Khabib just beat the absolute hell out of; has a win over Ferguson aswell.

Khabib did beat RDA, but that was a very long time ago, a full year and multiple fights before RDA even fought for the title. Matchmaking is always going to have a "what have you done for me lately" slant to it, and rightfully so. Same goes for Ferguson's loss to Johnson. That was in 2012. It's meaningless today.

[lefty]

Khabib has a better chance of winning, but I think Ferguson deserves it more. Khabib just had his first significant fight in 2 and a half years. It's not so crazy to make him rebuild a bit before a title shot.

McGregor should be forced to drop the FW belt. Hell, he should already have been forced to a long time ago, when he decided to rematch Diaz instead of going back down to FW to defend against Edgar.

Khabib already has a dominant win over Ferguson's best win in RDA though. RDA- pre fighting Khabib was on a 5 fight winning streak. He then went on a 5 fight winning streak post fighting Khabib- including winning the lightweight title in a dominating fashion against Pettis and he beat Cerrone twice amongst those winning streaks aswell.

Johnson who Khabib just beat the absolute hell out of; has a win over Ferguson aswell.

Khabib did beat RDA, but that was a very long time ago, a full year and multiple fights before RDA even fought for the title. Matchmaking is always going to have a "what have you done for me lately" slant to it, and rightfully so. Same goes for Ferguson's loss to Johnson. That was in 2012. It's meaningless today.

That's fair enough but what about the fact that RDA won 10 fights out of 11 taking away the Khabib loss?

[jujigatame]

RDA was a very legit win, no doubt about it, but when you are gone for 2 years, it goes a long way to erasing whatever you did before that. Also, that was just 1 win, and people are largely basing its value on what RDA went on to do AFTER that fight.

[p4p1]

I just saw a cool video on Romeros fan page. In round 1 he fakes a flying knee and Weidman ducks down to block/shoot for a TD in the third he did the exact same thing but followed through with the knee and got the knockout. Of course that could just be a coincidence. But if Romero was testing him to see how he would react it was a genius move.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

McGregor's counter left is world class boxing caliber. I expect khabib/Ferguson, McGregor/Diaz 3.

I'd expect him to get stripped at 145 if that goes down.

You'd hope so.

[Impractical Poster]

McGregor's counter left is world class boxing caliber. I expect khabib/Ferguson, McGregor/Diaz 3.

I'd expect him to get stripped at 145 if that goes down.

You'd hope so.

Indeed. Can't really be sure though. Conor may very well have these guys so far up his ass they will work on his terms. If so, it will be a major crack in the foundation of what has made the UFC great. Conor's fans won't seem to care much, though. We'll see.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

With khabib and Tony both being so deserving that sway writes itself. I want to see conor/Nate 3 anyway, so if that bullshit plays out with two great fights? I'm good. I can't imagine them letting conor near khabib, he's frightening.

[Evander]

Rarely watch this sport but I heard they had a big one on.
McGregor won easily and looked bigger, fight was done by the 2nd round.

[lefty]

With khabib and Tony both being so deserving that sway writes itself. I want to see conor/Nate 3 anyway, so if that bullshit plays out with two great fights? I'm good. I can't imagine them letting conor near khabib, he's frightening.

I'd be interested to see the odds on Conor-Khabib if that fight got made. The big support Conor has could sway the odds rather favourably; in regards to having a punt on Khabib.

[p4p1]

With khabib and Tony both being so deserving that sway writes itself. I want to see conor/Nate 3 anyway, so if that bullshit plays out with two great fights? I'm good. I can't imagine them letting conor near khabib, he's frightening.

Sure but then you've got the 2 top contenders fighting to eliminate each other. Then who does he fight? Right now he's got two deserving contenders. There's no reason to night fight one then the other.

Conor vs Nate 3 will happen no matter what. Whether he wins or loses against those guys we are going to see it anyway.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

With khabib and Tony both being so deserving that sway writes itself. I want to see conor/Nate 3 anyway, so if that bullshit plays out with two great fights? I'm good. I can't imagine them letting conor near khabib, he's frightening.

Sure but then you've got the 2 top contenders fighting to eliminate each other. Then who does he fight? Right now he's got two deserving contenders. There's no reason to night fight one then the other.

Conor vs Nate 3 will happen no matter what. Whether he wins or loses against those guys we are going to see it anyway.

Talk to the promoters.

[p4p1]

You know what's interesting is Conor is like the striking version of Palhares. When fighting both there is literally one thing you have to look out for. The difference of course is Palhares was good enough to win gold at ADCC by heel hooking the best grapplers in the world where as Conor couldn't do that against elite strikers or boxers in pure striking. But here's the big difference everyone who fought Palhares avoided going to the ground like it was the fornicating plague(because it was, let's be honest going to the ground with me likely meant surgery) but for whatever reason guys get in with Conor and decide that it's a good idea to give him openings to counter with his left.

After the fight Alvarez said that he didn't know why he fought like that and the game plan was never to fight like that. Which makes me ask if it's the moment that gets to them? Is it pressure? Is it anger? It surely can't be that many top level pro fighters seeing a guy with his hands down and can't control themselves. I know that I don't think Conor is as good as some here say and I do believe that he is overachieving but IMO his strongest asset is to not let the moment get to him.

[Tomasino]

You know what's interesting is Conor is like the striking version of Palhares. When fighting both there is literally one thing you have to look out for. The difference of course is Palhares was good enough to win gold at ADCC by heel hooking the best grapplers in the world where as Conor couldn't do that against elite strikers or boxers in pure striking. But here's the big difference everyone who fought Palhares avoided going to the ground like it was the effing plague(because it was, let's be honest going to the ground with me likely meant surgery) but for whatever reason guys get in with Conor and decide that it's a good idea to give him openings to counter with his left.

After the fight Alvarez said that he didn't know why he fought like that and the game plan was never to fight like that. Which makes me ask if it's the moment that gets to them? Is it pressure? Is it anger? It surely can't be that many top level pro fighters seeing a guy with his hands down and can't control themselves. I know that I don't think Conor is as good as some here say and I do believe that he is overachieving but IMO his strongest asset is to not let the moment get to him.

That and his left hand is TNT. Alvarez looked utterly clueless, I felt bad for him.

[thunderfromdownunder]

You know what's interesting is Conor is like the striking version of Palhares. When fighting both there is literally one thing you have to look out for. The difference of course is Palhares was good enough to win gold at ADCC by heel hooking the best grapplers in the world where as Conor couldn't do that against elite strikers or boxers in pure striking. But here's the big difference everyone who fought Palhares avoided going to the ground like it was the effing plague(because it was, let's be honest going to the ground with me likely meant surgery) but for whatever reason guys get in with Conor and decide that it's a good idea to give him openings to counter with his left.

After the fight Alvarez said that he didn't know why he fought like that and the game plan was never to fight like that. Which makes me ask if it's the moment that gets to them? Is it pressure? Is it anger? It surely can't be that many top level pro fighters seeing a guy with his hands down and can't control themselves. I know that I don't think Conor is as good as some here say and I do believe that he is overachieving but IMO his strongest asset is to not let the moment get to him.

I have issues with macgregor too, but to deny how good he is at this point is kinda silly. He finished perhaps the greatest fw of all time with a single pinch, and utterly destroyed one of the best lightweights of all time.
I thought the Diaz fight might have finished his hype, but I guess Nate has a style that matched up well to fight Connor.
I think if he can clip khabib he can finish him too

[EddieShredder]

I'm pretty sure the UFC will make Khabib and Ferguson fight it out for the title shot, whilst generating plenty of $$$ by doing the Diaz trilogy fight for the title.

Not that that's what they should do, by any means, but the UFC is essentially an entertainment company these days and has a huge debt to finance since the buyout. McGregor - Diaz III with a title on the line generates 3x the money any other fight does at this stage.

[lefty]

I'm pretty sure the UFC will make Khabib and Ferguson fight it out for the title shot, whilst generating plenty of $$$ by doing the Diaz trilogy fight for the title.

Not that that's what they should do, by any means, but the UFC is essentially an entertainment company these days and has a huge debt to finance since the buyout. McGregor - Diaz III with a title on the line generates 3x the money any other fight does at this stage.

How would you see Khabib-Ferguson panning out? I find it hard to pick against Khabib against any of the lightweights; but Ferguson is decent in his own right.

[Impractical Poster]

You know what's interesting is Conor is like the striking version of Palhares. When fighting both there is literally one thing you have to look out for. The difference of course is Palhares was good enough to win gold at ADCC by heel hooking the best grapplers in the world where as Conor couldn't do that against elite strikers or boxers in pure striking. But here's the big difference everyone who fought Palhares avoided going to the ground like it was the effing plague(because it was, let's be honest going to the ground with me likely meant surgery) but for whatever reason guys get in with Conor and decide that it's a good idea to give him openings to counter with his left.

After the fight Alvarez said that he didn't know why he fought like that and the game plan was never to fight like that. Which makes me ask if it's the moment that gets to them? Is it pressure? Is it anger? It surely can't be that many top level pro fighters seeing a guy with his hands down and can't control themselves. I know that I don't think Conor is as good as some here say and I do believe that he is overachieving but IMO his strongest asset is to not let the moment get to him.

I have issues with macgregor too, but to deny how good he is at this point is kinda silly. He finished perhaps the greatest fw of all time with a single pinch, and utterly destroyed one of the best lightweights of all time.
I thought the Diaz fight might have finished his hype, but I guess Nate has a style that matched up well to fight Connor.
I think if he can clip khabib he can finish him too

I agree with you that McGregor is awesome. But, Alvarez is not one of the best LWs of all time.

Diaz has a style actually suited for McGregor, for the most part. It's just that Diaz has a good chin and stamina. Khabib has a style matched up well to beat Conor. The question is does he get clipped before getting a hold of him.

[Impractical Poster]

I'm pretty sure the UFC will make Khabib and Ferguson fight it out for the title shot, whilst generating plenty of $$$ by doing the Diaz trilogy fight for the title.

Not that that's what they should do, by any means, but the UFC is essentially an entertainment company these days and has a huge debt to finance since the buyout. McGregor - Diaz III with a title on the line generates 3x the money any other fight does at this stage.

Could this back fire with Conor losing against Nate again. I think it would be better if Conor were to fight one or both Khabib and Ferg before Nate. A Nate fight would sell whether he wins or loses against those guys. However, if he loses against Nate, then Nate is the champion.

[lefty]

I think Conor has massively improved his take down defence but if Khabib gets a hold of pretty much anyone; despite how good a grappler you are- you're hitting the mat.

I remember a video from a few years back where he was doing grappling drills at AKA with Rockhold and Luke didn't look completely comfortable and the size difference between them is absolutely enormous.

[lefty]

Who can forget this video from when Khabib was a kid either

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JZvCgSmV9JA

[lefty]

Have to admit- that bear has got a great sprawl on him.