Topic: The UFC Info and Prediction Thread - page 518. (Read 96930 times)

I think a lot of people are unaware that Justin has a decent bit of experience on the state side of wrestling. I believe he was in the hall of fame for either his school, or his state I forget which one. The guy, at least knows wrestling, and should be vulnerable to easy chokes. However, that being said I don't know the quality of state side wrestling, and in particular his state. I've heard its at a decent level. Over in the UK, being a top "athlete" within your county is not that impressive at all, but I have a feeling stateside is a little more impressive due to the sheer sides of states in America. 

However, that being said Khabib is a master of his craft. You know what you're going up against, hes world class on the floor, and to be honest I think his striking is a underrated part of his game. I don't see this going 5 rounds, and I don't see this ending by a submission. I believe Khabib will either knock out Justin, or Justin will knock out Khabib. Khabib has shown in the past he can throw punches. His fight against Connor he traded quite a few punches, and honestly if my memory is serving me well, I thought he beat Connor standing too.

Also, there's a 6ft 11" dude fighting on the weekend, I don't know how hes slipped through the cracks for me, but I don't recall ever seeing him fight, and I like to think I would remember if I did .

It's not like he has much of a choice once the fight starts. He'll be busy defending take downs because Khabib will persist on taking him down. If he's not going to use his wrestling and rely only on his superior striking, he'll lose. It'll be easier for him to unload his punches/kicks if he can frustrate Khabib on the ground.

I actually think he can take down Khabib. I don't remember anyone doing that to him.

Maybe not even loading to know out Khabib with single punch, but first to daze him. I dont remember Khabib ever been dazed or being in standing knock down. Not even having a cut or a nice bruise. Dont know how Khabib will act if being hurt badly. Maybe he will recover quick, maybe he will get down and try to outwrestle. Never seen him in such condition and Gaethje could bring him to that.

P.S. Again press call Gaethje as "most dangerous opponent" for Khabib. Imho, all his opponents are dangerous. How many this "most dangerous opponents" he has already bitten ?

It is true after coming in the UFC his strategy revolves around a cage but before that he was fighting in open rings without a cage and he was taking opponents down in the middle. All the opponents he faced knows what is game plan is and none was able to stop that and if Justin Gaethje is able to do that it will be a first and so is the reason everyone is excited to see that fight.


The first take down in that fight was Khabib shooting for the legs in the middle of the cage and then pinning Conor against the cage, Justin never wrestled in the UFC and having a game plan is good but his game plan should be knocking Khabib out even before getting to the ground.
No doubt Justin is the most celebrated wrestler Khabib has faced and that is the reason for the hype.

Man, Khabib's strategy really revolves around the cage 

If you've seen UFC 229, you'll understand that in the center, Khabib failed in trying to break Connor. Therefore, it makes no sense to talk about Justin considering that he is a wrestler D1 ... Although if he succeeds in avoiding the pressure in the center, Khabib may still have a couple of other ways to surprise.

That is a good advice, a well timed headbutt to Khabib's chin while crashing in  . There are other options too when Khabib closes in for a single leg or double leg just run around the cage and even Justin's game plan is to stay away from the cage at all times .

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Missed a few fight cards because i was not well and i have watched a few interviews of Dana White in YouTube and he is calling it the most trending fight ever and Conor returning and many news to catch up.

I suspect that Khabib is psychologically not in the best condition right now (although he will be quite ferocious). I'm not his biggest fan, but I hope I'm wrong because, to be honest, Justin is the worst opponent for any version of Khabib.

I can't be sure that he will lose to Justin, but if this happens it will be not only due to lack of skills but due to the depression in which he is. The most effective route for Justin is a powerful, well-timed headbutt to Khabib's chin.

It is going to be a technical fight but Justin Gaethje is not going to wrestle, he is clear about his vision as he will look to knock out Khabib Nurmagomedov and the funny aspect about this fight is that both fighters knows their game plan really well and they are vocal about that in the media. Justin Gaethje clearly knows that he needs to stay away from the cage and maintain the distance to avoid any form of grappling. The interesting aspect of this fight is that who will impose their game plan. Can Justin Gaethje avoid the take downs and land clean punches and make a dirty brawl.

^ I guess that comes down to individual perception. Yes, they were both looking calm and that's down to their confidence coming into the fight. There's definitely huge respect between those guys and I bet each camp had a training that's unlike before. It's going to be a technical fight and whoever can endure high level of grappling/wrestling will win. I'm looking forward to bet on Justin. Just waiting for the odds to improve as the fight gets closer.

Watching that Pre-fight press conference I didn't see any sense of fear in both guys I think they are both calm and collected and just like Dana White are saying this is one exciting fight to watch we would never know for sure what may happen inside the octagon but In my opinion, this is going to be a big win for Khabib Nurmagomedov and after this win I really want him to still stick around but it is up to him if he going to stop after this fight.

^ I'm liking how Justin is carrying himself. Khabib has probably seen all types of trash talking and online bullying from most of his opponents and Justin's humble and calm approach isn't something he sees too often. I don't think that's going to affect Khabib's mentality that much but he probably senses danger. Did I sound too dramatic?  

I thought it was a good interview from Gaethje.  Go listen to what he said around 24:11 of the vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNseUnqPLc8

He was sincere and he's coming into the event with a good mindset imo.

UFC today needs to have some drama before the fight because this will make the fans excite and will not miss the fight on its specified date. Just like what happened with Khabib's fight with Conor, they went into dramas for some months before they see each other in the octagon. a week before the fight has said it all, it will be going to be one of the most exciting fights in the history of UFC.

People miss Khabib vs Conor confrontations a lot 

I dont remember anything other so exciting to observe. UFC is so boring nowadays. Fighters just steps inside octagon, smash each other faces, gets cheques and goes back to gym.

We need more drama.

^  Thanks.  I was about to post that too.

Anyway, it's gonna live in 30 mins guys.  Let's see what kind of mindset these guys are in.


Yup..  Volkov wins it.  It will prolly be a sweat for the first 5 minutes tho.  Lol.

Im staying up late tonight to watch this -

UFC 254: Pre-fight Press Conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNseUnqPLc8

I also think that Volkov would win. This is not the first time Alexander is facing such big guy. Harris has 13 wins and all of them are by KO. I predict he will run out of stamina, as only 3 of his fight ended by decision. What Alexander should do is to survive round 1 and finish tired Harris by KO in third round. But he must be always careful if dont want to lose his winning fight in last second like against Lewis, as even tired Harris has good knockout power.

We are all focused on main event Khabib vs Gaethje but let's not forget other great fights on this card, and one of them is Alexander Volkov (31-8) vs. Walt Harris (13-8).
Looking at bookies odds Volkov is big favorite here: https://www.bestodds.ai/odds/sport-mma/ufc/alexander-volkov-vs-walt-harris
We have two tall heavyweight giants fighting here, with slight reach advantage for six years younger Volkov.
They are both coming from loses against Curtis Blaydes and Alistair Overeem, so this is must win for both.
Volkov is a better fighter and striker and if he manages to survive the first round he will win in later rounds.
I am going for Volkov win here.

When the opponent is worried about the take down, then you are open to strikes and that is what happened in the Conor McGregor fight, if you look back you can see when Khabib level changed for the over hand right Conor was preparing to defend the take down and that is when he got floored and that level of take down scare was evident in the Khamzat Chimaev fight, Gerald Meerschaert was expecting a take down in the fence and he was expecting that but instead got knocked out cold.

Everyone in Khabib's camp as well as his old opponents will testify that everyone will be confident just before facing him, the moment he catches inside the cage then you will understand the pressure and the technique.

Still Khabib's stand up though is under-rated, he knock down Conor with one punch, which we thought is not possible, but he shows that he has a great power as well, slight advantage for Justin, but I don't think that he can knock out Khabib because Khabib has a good chin as well.

So it's hard to see how he is going to win, and his BJJ skill is questionable, how can he defend himself on the ground, Poirier summarises it, "You know what's Khabib gonna do and anticipate it", and he doesn't look strong, but when he is on top, you can't do anything", not exact but along that line.