The Official MMA Thread: UFC FIGHT NIGHT IN RIYADH - ISRAEL ADESANYA VS. NASSOURDINE IMAVOV: RETURN OF THE KING OR RISE OF THE IMAVOV - 2/1 @ 9AM EST

[アミーゴ]

Khabib is the GOAT.

Thanks for all the fights where people said “this guy has what it takes to beat him because xyz”

Every time he pulled through with convincing wins.

Enjoy your retirement.

Another raise coming your way

 

[MakeNTGreatAgain]

I lost my dad 12 years ago. The first 6 months after that was hell.

Nearly quite college, drank a ton, cried myself to sleep every night. To be honest it took me years to fully get over.

And my Dad and I were not as close as Khalib and his Dad appeared to be

If dude comeback, it will probably be not for a while. But if I had to guess, we won't even see him fight again.

I wish dude all the best. Because I know what it feels like to experience a loss like that.

condolences for your loss I cant imagine the pain of that situation man.

 

[steevoo1]

Khabib is the LW GOAT. It’s too bad he only defended the belt three times. But along the way, he amassed a 13-win streak and dominated every opponent (except for the Tibau fight).

If he had defended the title 8X...he would’ve gone down as the greatest UFC fighter. GSP had 2 losses but he dominated the WW division. So did Jones. And Anderson was undefeated for 5+ years. Obviously DJ did his thing as well.

One thing that's over looked during Khabibs whole run is that the promotion didn't get behind him until they finally realized they had to. He had a Championship fight set up with Eddie already when Eddie beat RDA. But UFC changed it to Mcgregor instead smh. I have no doubt that Khabib would've beaten Eddie. If it all played out how it was originally set, then we could've been talking about 5-7 title defenses in total. Mans was on a 9 fight win streak before he got the title shot.

 

[spiderjericho]

The promotion are numb skulls. They’ve never had a clue besides Rhonda, and McGregor.

Some times they’ll recognize groundswell eg Izzy and O’Malley and put the mini Rocket behind them.

Khabib is a once in a lifetime star. Russian, Islamic. They really could’ve made money with him.

 

[Cashflow]

 

[spiderjericho]

That legend finna grow!! Broken foot, mumps, fight island, father passed away and he put Gaethje out to sleep in the second round.

 

[flyeed]

Man I’m sad about Khabib retiring. The same thing that resonated with me about him though, being a dude with values that were left behind in the previous millennium of code and honor, also is a big part of why he retired. Keeping his word to his mother.

I don’t really have many “favorite” athletes but he was a dude who I messed with from the first fight of his I caught. Then watching him ascend and eventually delivering his masterpiece—the Conor smashing will always be up there with me as one of my favorite moments in sports I caught live. I still watch that it periodically to relive it. Thank you champ.

 

[spiderjericho]

GOAT recognizes GOAT.

 

[dman14]

GOAT recognizes GOAT.

thought we were going to get one of these

 

[dasitmane]

GOAT recognizes GOAT.

GSP looking slim, seemed like he was anticipating a fight.

 

[keko jones]

Whomever though that overrated Justin was going to beat Kahbib, don't know MMA.

I do hope Connor comes back and beat the bricks of Justin ... AND I'm not even a Conor fan.

Alvarez and Poitier outclassed Justin and both got smoked by Conor or Kahbib ....

Talking about the second coming and midway the 1st round ***** *** was running.

 

[Clyde Frog]

Whittaker has proven these last 2 fights he’s still the real deal and deserves a rematch with Adesanya. Assuming Adesanya wins, the only move is for him to move up a weight class, take that belt, and wait a few fights for Jones to return. Adesanya is close to being at Khabib’s level of dominance.

In regards to Khabib there isn’t a doubt in my mind he’s retired for good. With the exception of GSP. I’m not gonna lie, Khabib retiring is probably good for the division. The division is loaded with extremely exciting strikers, but Khabib’s ground game is so dominant it’s boring. Props to him. He’s the greatest lightweight of all time. The set up for the new champion should be wild.

 

[spiderjericho]

Honest question. Do you think GSP would have stood a chance against Khabib at 155? He says they would have to fight at catch weight.
I love the pop on George’s jab. But I just can’t see how Khabib’s wrestling would get stopped.

Heres hoping they do a tournament. Chandler, Ferguson, Porier, McGregor, Gaethje, Hooker, etc

 

[dasitmane]

Honest question. Do you think GSP would have stood a chance against Khabib at 155? He says they would have to fight at catch weight.
I love the pop on George’s jab. But I just can’t see how Khabib’s wrestling would get stopped.

Heres hoping they do a tournament. Chandler, Ferguson, Porier, McGregor, Gaethje, Hooker, etc

Current GSP hell no, but if prime GSP could have cut down and fought this Khabib then I'd give him a good shot of winning. His tdd was elite.

 

[champcruthik]

I always thought Khabib would go for that 30-0 and retire on a GSP super-fight, but things must've changed with Abdulmanap's passing. Khabib's 155 run is at the MMA pinnacle, along with B.J. Penn and Gomi in Pride. Doubt Nurmagomedov will detach from the sport entirely. Perhaps help Makhachev and Umar take the next step in UFC. His other cousin, Usman, just signed with Bellator as LW.

I'm nitpicking here, but the only blemish on Nurmagomedov's illustrious career would be Gleison Tibau. I hold that unconvincing decision in the same regard as JLC 1 for PBF and Izzy's split vs. Vettori.

Hypothetical now, but the two best matchups for Khabib stylistically in my mind were "Durinho" and Usman. Burns probably couldn't nor would want to make 155 at this point. 170 tough ask for Nurmagomedov against Kamaru. When the GSP bout was rumored, it was always discussed at catchweight of 160-165 range. I would have added "El Cucuy" to the mix, had you asked me before the Gaethje beating. Oliveira another name that often came to mind.

IMO, Dana has to have in any conversation for the now vacant LW strap. I have my doubts about the rematch happening on Jan. 23. Conor doesn't seem serious or focused on making the grueling cut to 155. Call me skeptical, but more likely to see Nate trilogy at 170 or money grab crossover with Manny. If it's not McGregor/Poirier II, folks might be heated to hear and see Chandler skip the line in some fashion. May get brownie points from Dana for being on standby and cutting the weight protectively.

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

Current GSP hell no, but if prime GSP could have cut down and fought this Khabib then I'd give him a good shot of winning. His tdd was elite.

 

[steevoo1]

Interesting, 2 judges had Gaethje taking the 1st. Was a close round, but those 2 judges were the ones who scored the Kenney 30-27 over Woods.

The one judge Sal should've never been able to judge again after that whole Giles/Krause favoring bias beginning of the year smh.

 

[smedroc]

Judges are wildin as usual.

It was even on the feet with Khabib forcing the action.

Then Khabib scored the takedown, mounted and had an arm bar locked up.

30 more secs in that round and Justin might have been dunzo.

 

[jewseejay]

Would have been donezo.

Khabibs execution is scary. Wore that man out with forward pressure and showed him he could kickbox with Justin if he wanted to but his main goal was to jus get that adrenaline dump and gas him. Worked flawlessly gaethje was on the stool after the first like he jus fight 4 championship rds

 

[blastercombo]

The promotion are numb skulls. They’ve never had a clue besides Rhonda, and McGregor.

Some times they’ll recognize groundswell eg Izzy and O’Malley and put the mini Rocket behind them.

Khabib is a once in a lifetime star. Russian, Islamic. They really could’ve made money with him.

Look at who they’ve pushed the past 5 or so years

PVZ
Connor
Rhonda
Coby
Bones (though they didn’t want to)

There’s a pattern

 

[shogun]

Current GSP hell no, but if prime GSP could have cut down and fought this Khabib then I'd give him a good shot of winning. His tdd was elite.

Yeah, this old version of gsp would be at a big disadvantage cutting down to 155 where he never fought in the ufc before. Only times I remember people keeping up with george in wrestling was kosheck in their 2nd fight and don't remember how much wrestling was in his hendricks fight.

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

The judges actually had Khabib losing..

 

[smedroc]

Yeah, this old version of gsp would be at a big disadvantage cutting down to 155 where he never fought in the ufc before. Only times I remember people keeping up with george in wrestling was kosheck in their 2nd fight and don't remember how much wrestling was in his hendricks fight.

Prime GSP beats prime Khabib at catch weight imo.

Khabib is very hittable and i imagine GSP would just live behind the jab.

 

[spiderjericho]

Gaethje was pretty accurate and calm in his Ferguson fight. Changed completely when he had to deal with the pressure.

The way Khabib got the triangle. It was insane.

Prime GSP...I don’t believe could hang with that grappling. I agree he has that jab and his TDD defense might stuff Khabib for a while. But eventually.

 

[shogun]

I dunno. gsp is a freak athlete. So fast, quick, strong. If his grappling is / was as good as Tibau's then he'd win.