GDT: UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta

[LSCII]

If Khabib had fought Tony or Max last night, he wouldn't be "champion" today. Simple as that. He was exposed by fighting a lower level mid tier guy and looked bad doing it. Just like the vast majority of unknown shitbums and stiffs he beat most of his career to pad his record.

Whomever gets him next, I would bet the house that perfect record goes away, and in convincing fashion.

 

[LSCII]

Rose dominated JJ again. I thought she may have gotten caught/hurt in the 3rd because that seemed to be the only time she noticeably went backward but I certainly could be wrong.

Khabib is an absolute beast. He's one of the very few fighters where you watch him and you really feel like you're seeing something special. I really hope he gets Conor next, he will embarrass him.

Mendes owned Conor until he gassed. Khabib will do whatever he wants with him.


Very odd. A round or two were close but if memory serves me correctly the only round you'd have to give JJ was 3.

Mendes "gassed" because McGregor hit his body constantly with front kicks. The only time Mendes did anything was on the ground, yet he never had McGregor in trouble. In fact, the entire time he was on the ground, McGregor was talking shit to Chad, which is something Chad said after the fight. You also left out the little detail that Mendes was caught shortly after for being on PEDs.

 

[tacogeoff]

If Khabib had fought Tony or Max last night, he wouldn't be "champion" today. Simple as that. He was exposed by fighting a lower level mid tier guy and looked bad doing it. Just like the vast majority of unknown ****bums and stiffs he beat most of his career to pad his record.

Whomever gets him next, I would bet the house that perfect record goes away, and in convincing fashion.

The reality is at least we have a guy that will defend his title now win or lose and accept any opponent. Hell how many tentitative matchups did he have last night lol.

 

[LSCII]

The reality is at least we have a guy that will defend his title now win or lose and accept any opponent. Hell how many tentitative matchups did he have last night lol.

People act like McGregor hasn't fought guys as replacements at the last second. He has. Multiple times.

In terms of defending the belt, he obviously hasn't, but in reality, the UFC was fine with that. Instead of defending the FW title, he moved up and won the LW title. Instead of defending that belt, he fought Mayweather. All which the UFC was happy to be involved with. At this point, the sport is not about the belts, but about the money.

You also give Khabib credit for defending something he just won. Whether he defends it or not is yet to be seen. And even if he does, whom he defends it against will matter.

UFC further proved the belts are irrelevant by deciding last night that Ferguson's interim belt was no longer valid and that whomever won last night would be the linear champion. They literally took a steaming dump on their own belts. Which they've done over the years just to try and make a marginal PPV main event seem more relevant.

So really, who cares about defending or winning something that the governing body can and will decide isn't universally recognized by some arbitrary criteria whenever they want?

If you ask me, Khabib isn't the champion. He beat a lower ranked stiff, but didn't beat the interim title holder for it. The interim title holder didn't be the actual champion. So the UFC is left with 2 fights to make to actually unify the belts and get back to some form of legitimacy for this title.

 

[LSCII]

Delete: accidental double post.

 

[VVP]

Clearly, Khabib's preparation for the fight was geared towards Tony. Khabib's plan was all prepared by his dad as usual so I am guessing the plan was to maul Tony for 2 rounds then to stand and trade for a couple of round I assume trying to preserve energy and then attempt to take Tony down in the fifth and finish the fight on the top. The only question is if Tony stood and trade with Khabib in 3rd and 4th would he be able to do better than Al?

 

[67 others]

Mendes "gassed" because McGregor hit his body constantly with front kicks. The only time Mendes did anything was on the ground, yet he never had McGregor in trouble. In fact, the entire time he was on the ground, McGregor was talking **** to Chad, which is something Chad said after the fight. You also left out the little detail that Mendes was caught shortly after for being on PEDs.

Some of the shittalk was comical as well. "Send my mail here. This is my new home"

 

[Linda Bacon]

overall, solid card.

I had Rose and Joanna 2-2 going into the 5th, very close fight, wouldn't mind seeing Rose vs Joanna 3 in the future.

Joanna vs Karolina 2 next will be a good fight, still love Joanna.

 

[LSCII]

overall, solid card.

I had Rose and Joanna 2-2 going into the 5th, very close fight, wouldn't mind seeing Rose vs Joanna 3 in the future.

Joanna vs Karolina 2 next will be a good fight, still love Joanna.

Before that would happen, I would think that Karolina would be next in line for a title shot, given she's beaten Rose once before, no?

 

[BGDDYKWL]

Mendes "gassed" because McGregor hit his body constantly with front kicks. The only time Mendes did anything was on the ground, yet he never had McGregor in trouble. In fact, the entire time he was on the ground, McGregor was talking **** to Chad, which is something Chad said after the fight. You also left out the little detail that Mendes was caught shortly after for being on PEDs.

Mendes had what a two week camp? I'm guessing that may have factored in. And he was absolutely busting Conor up on the ground and Conor had zero answer for it. Yeah he was talking, great, he was getting dominated. Khabib's pressure and gas tank are second to none. Could Conor catch him early? Of course. But if he doesn't he's in BIG trouble.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

If Khabib had fought Tony or Max last night, he wouldn't be "champion" today. Simple as that. He was exposed by fighting a lower level mid tier guy and looked bad doing it. Just like the vast majority of unknown ****bums and stiffs he beat most of his career to pad his record.

Whomever gets him next, I would bet the house that perfect record goes away, and in convincing fashion.

Some people are acting like Iaquinta is some bum. The guy's a good wrestler with power who's beaten Masvidal and Kevin Lee. He's not exactly a bum. And Khabib made him look like he didn't even belong in the same cage with him. I mean didn't one judge have it like 50-42? Jesus, what more do you want from the guy?

 

[MaxV]

I agree that Khabib didn’t fight well in spots, but I think some of that was what his opponent was doing.

Al went full bunker mode in the 3rd and 4th rounds. He only engaged when he saw daylight. Khabib looked really comfortable, maybe too much so.

I think we are making a pretty big assumption by saying that Khabib would do nothing but jab for 2 rounds vs Tony, Conor or Max.

 

[m9]

I wonder what some of the people not impressed by Khabib last night thought of GSP who essentially did the same thing for many of his championship fights. Takedown, grind, jab, win.

 

[Nurmagomedov]

People act like McGregor hasn't fought guys as replacements at the last second. He has. Multiple times.

In terms of defending the belt, he obviously hasn't, but in reality, the UFC was fine with that. Instead of defending the FW title, he moved up and won the LW title. Instead of defending that belt, he fought Mayweather. All which the UFC was happy to be involved with. At this point, the sport is not about the belts, but about the money.

You also give Khabib credit for defending something he just won. Whether he defends it or not is yet to be seen. And even if he does, whom he defends it against will matter.

UFC further proved the belts are irrelevant by deciding last night that Ferguson's interim belt was no longer valid and that whomever won last night would be the linear champion. They literally took a steaming dump on their own belts. Which they've done over the years just to try and make a marginal PPV main event seem more relevant.

So really, who cares about defending or winning something that the governing body can and will decide isn't universally recognized by some arbitrary criteria whenever they want?

If you ask me, Khabib isn't the champion. He beat a lower ranked stiff, but didn't beat the interim title holder for it. The interim title holder didn't be the actual champion. So the UFC is left with 2 fights to make to actually unify the belts and get back to some form of legitimacy for this title.

Wow. It's okay to be a fan of McGregor (I am) but this kind of devotion to a stranger has to be unhealthy. The man owns two of the top three worst title reigns in modern UFC history, de Randamie being the third. There's really no getting around that.

 

[Dr Always Right]

Couldn't disagree more about Khabib's performance. All the **** that's gone on and he ends up facing Raging Al who honestly he probably felt was no match for him and took it easy.

That would be like watching Bones fight OSP and thinking he got exposed.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I wonder what some of the people not impressed by Khabib last night thought of GSP who essentially did the same thing for many of his championship fights. Takedown, grind, jab, win.

GSP went through a meat grinder of top contender after top contender and dominated them like that but with better standup. If Khabib can do what GSP did then yes I will absolutely be impressed. But he hasn't.

 

[MaxV]

I mean one part of it I do agree with.

Khabib keeps his hands down. But everyone has already known that. Is that really exposing?

 

[LSCII]

Wow. It's okay to be a fan of McGregor (I am) but this kind of devotion to a stranger has to be unhealthy. The man owns two of the top three worst title reigns in modern UFC history, de Randamie being the third. There's really no getting around that.

The only thing I'm devoted to is being honest about my opinions. The truth is, the UFC itself has devalued their own titles by giving out interim belts every time a main event at a PPV sucks, but they need it to have some cache and interest. McGregor has been a horrible champion, yet the UFC itself hasn't given a crap. Ask yourself why. The answer is staring you in the face.

I mean shit, they let the guy go box instead of defending either title he had, tying up not one, but two freaking divisions for a really long time. That should tell you what it's really all about...

 

[Avs_19]

I went in with no expectations after what happened throughout the week and I thought this ended up being a decent card. Nothing really great but it had its moments.

Khabib did his thing. It wasn't his best performance and him finally winning the belt ended up being kinda anti-climatic but he got the job done. His performance, especially the striking, is getting trashed and there's something to that because his stand up does still look sloppy and even amateurish at times but this was a weird week. He had to prepare for three different opponents and had that whole mess with Conor in the middle of it. He's the champ and no one can take that away from him but I feel like he needs to beat someone like Ferguson next to really legitimize that belt.

Props to Al for not only stepping up but also going all five rounds. He took some big shots on the ground and there were a couple of moments where Khabib had his back/neck and he could've just taken his big pay day and called it a night but he kept fighting. I'm guessing he picked up a lot of new fans after last night.

Rose/Joanna was a good fight. I didn't really score it watching live but I thought Rose deserved the win. She closed the fight very strong in the 5th round.

Moicano looked good and I had him winning every round.

Zabit/Bochniak was a great fight. Zabit looked damn good until he faded late and I think he showed why there's so much hype around. He obviously has things to work on but he's legit and very well-rounded. I'm all for a fight between him and Yair Rodriguez next.

Poor Lauzon. Great job by his corner saving him from another five minutes of that. As a fan of his, I wouldn't mind if we never saw him fight again.

Good win for Karolina. I'm guessing Andrade is next in line for Rose but Karolina should be in the mix as well.

Great performance by Aubin-Mercier over a ranked fighter.

 

[Bologna 1]

Khabib toyed last night. Even said he wanted to go full five rounds despite his team pleading with him to go back to the game plan and maul iaquinta, who I do think is underrated for sure too.

 

[I am the Liquor]

Props to Al for stepping up to save the card, for facing a very tough opponent and for fighting with heart.

Connor is a goof who hasn't fought in the cage in over a year, never defended one of his belts, and is really nothing more than a lesser, crappier Jon Jones mess of a fighter. I don't care if he goes away and is never seen or heard from again, but I also wouldn't mind seeing him get his ass kicked by Khabib. Its win win.

 

[Peasy]

d

Zabit/Bochniak was a great fight. Zabit looked damn good until he faded late and I think he showed why there's so much hype around. He obviously has things to work on but he's legit and very well-rounded. I'm all for a fight between him and Yair Rodriguez next.

Looks like he may have broke his hand warming up before the fight.

 

[m9]

Wonder what they do next at 155.

I would just book Khabib v Ferguson with a co-main of contenders (Eddie Alvarez v whoever) so you have the backup plan.

Then if Conor comes back, have him fight Nate to finish off the trilogy. Easier fight for Conor to come back to.

 

[LSCII]

Some people are acting like Iaquinta is some bum. The guy's a good wrestler with power who's beaten Masvidal and Kevin Lee. He's not exactly a bum. And Khabib made him look like he didn't even belong in the same cage with him. I mean didn't one judge have it like 50-42? Jesus, what more do you want from the guy?

A "good" wrestler who had zero time to actually prepare to face Khabib and the skill set he brings to the table. He dominated a guy that wasn't supposed to fight him until the day before, and he didn't put the guy away. Hell, he didn't even have the guy in trouble. There was zero chance that fight wasn't going the distance. He dry humped Al all around the cage and threw nothing but jabs the entire fight. It was boring. It was zero risk. It was safe.

So I'll say it again, if Khabib fought Ferguson or Holloway, he'd have gotten caved in.

 

[LSCII]

Props to Al for stepping up to save the card, for facing a very tough opponent and for fighting with heart.

Connor is a goof who hasn't fought in the cage in over a year, never defended one of his belts, and is really nothing more than a lesser, crappier Jon Jones mess of a fighter. I don't care if he goes away and is never seen or heard from again, but I also wouldn't mind seeing him get his ass kicked by Khabib. Its win win.

That's not going to happen. Not because McGregor will beat him, but because Khabib doesn't kick anyone's ass. He hugs and jabs, and goes to a decision the majority of the time.

 

[MaxV]

Zabit broke his hand, but also it looked like he gassed at the end.

He throws so much at his opponent, just non-stop offense. All those flying kicks, combinations, throws, its really difficult to deal with for his opponents.

The one negative about is that it’s geared for an early finish. If you get a guy who can withstand all of that onslaught, he might have more left in the tank at the end of the fight.

His coaches need to address it. He isn’t ready for a 5-rounder with a top guy imo.