Khabib is a man of his word.
Thank you, Khabib. What a brilliant career. For my money, he's the best ever.
Thank you, Khabib. What a brilliant career. For my money, he's the best ever.
GDT: UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje
- Thread starter Avs_19
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I think he's coming back, for two reasons.
Firstly, I think he'd need his mother's permission to come back, but I don't think she wouldn't grant it to him. If you're a parent and you see your child really wants to do something, often times you allow it. And if she sees that he really misses the life and wants to get back in, I'm sure she'd be like any other parent and allow it. Like a parent whose child wants to be an actor, but obeys his parents and goes to school, but the parents can always see the fire in his eyes for acting, at some point the parents cave in and allow it.
Secondly, I think Khabib has two weaknesses. And they are Islam Makhachev and Usman Nurmagomedov. They are very good fighters, but they are not Khabib. They can be beaten. And if a fighter or future prospect beats them and disrespects them heavily en route to a belt, I think Khabib would then really struggle to resist the urge to step back in and put the perpetrator in his place.
Firstly, I think he'd need his mother's permission to come back, but I don't think she wouldn't grant it to him. If you're a parent and you see your child really wants to do something, often times you allow it. And if she sees that he really misses the life and wants to get back in, I'm sure she'd be like any other parent and allow it. Like a parent whose child wants to be an actor, but obeys his parents and goes to school, but the parents can always see the fire in his eyes for acting, at some point the parents cave in and allow it.
Secondly, I think Khabib has two weaknesses. And they are Islam Makhachev and Usman Nurmagomedov. They are very good fighters, but they are not Khabib. They can be beaten. And if a fighter or future prospect beats them and disrespects them heavily en route to a belt, I think Khabib would then really struggle to resist the urge to step back in and put the perpetrator in his place.
Top to bottom that was an awesome card. They’ve hit a couple homers lately
Avs_19
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Israel Adesanya is the first one who comes to mind as a few others have already mentioned.
I'd put Francis Ngannou right up there as well. I think it's only a matter of time before he wins the HW belt and as unpredictable as that division is, he could hang onto it for a while when does win it.
My darkhorse candidate for must watch/next great fighter would be Petr Yan. He's already champion but I don't think many casual fans know who he is. His division is also stacked so he could lose as soon as his next fight. He's one of my favourites though and he has a very fan friendly style.
SuperScript29
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I think Izzy has the potential. I know it's a reach but if he stays undefeated in his division and a victory over Jon Jones in a super fight would put him in goat status.
It’s not the 29-0 that’s impressive. I mean, it is obviously but I just don’t ever remember Khabib ever being in danger. Ever. Nobody got shit over on Khabib. 29 times two men were out there in the cage and 29 times he walked out barely sweating.
Izzy for sure. The problem for Izzy though is that he's kinda cleaned out his division so who does he fight? I think he should move up to LHW and let MW settle, but he may want to wait around at MW. But everyone in MW has either already lost to Izzy recently, or lost to someone else who lost to Izzy. I think he needs to give the division some time to naturally produce a contender.
Francis is definitely also on the way. I think Stipe should retire, the age is really starting to show, he's not the same fighter he once was and he should get out there before he takes a lot of punishment. The best after Francis is Blaydes who Francis has already beaten twice. Then there's a huge gap between those two and the next guy. Volkov looks good, he could be good but he really struggles against wrestlers and I don't know that that's something that will change. Lower down, Pavlovich could contend some day, he's very talented, but he's still a bit green.
Not a fan of Petr Yan myself. I had him over Aldo, was a really weird pick to be the shoo in for the title fight, coming off of a convincing win vs Moraes...wait a minute... Cejudo leaving threw a lot off balance. I think Aljo takes it, and in the distance you always have to keep your eye on the potential TJ return. That's no knock on Yan though, he's legit.
Canadiens Ghost
Mr. Objectivity
I would favor a GSP in his prime but the problem here is by the time the fight would be on, GSP would be 40 and have fought only once in the last 7 or 8 years. I believe it would be a competitive fight and GSP certainly would have a chance but you gotta put Khabib as the favorite.
SuperScript29
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I know it was earlier in his career but watch his fight against Tibau. It was a close fight and I don't even think Khabib was able to land a single take down despite trying.
chicagoskycam
Land of #1 Overall Picks
Retired = aka I’m taking a break and vacating the belt. He will be back at some point
how many top names retired on Dana this year lol.
how many top names retired on Dana this year lol.
When Khabib says it, it definitely has a different ring to it. I always had the feeling it was more his father's biggest dream, rather than Khabib's and now that he's gone forever, it doesn't feel the same.
Maybe now he'll pursue his biggest dream of becoming a football player.
I am even more surprised at anyone who ranks Jon Jones ahead of Khabib in an all-time ranking.
How many times was Jones caught using steroids?
I don't want to hear any "ands, buts, or ifs" either about Jones career. If Jones didn't think steroids gave him an advantage, then why use them?
Plus, if you are caught using steroids multiple times, then how many times were you using them and not caught? Jones could have been using them for more of his fights but didn't get caught.
Jones has been pushed hard his last 2 fights. Maybe losing both of them if not for judge's decision (and bias towards the champ?). Perhaps he stopped using steroids in these close-calls because of his previous positive tests?
Jones is like the Alex Rodriguez of MMA. So much talent. Maybe had the gifts to be the greatest. But he was caught doping multiple times.
He is a bit of a fraud to me.
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I really dont understand how people can put Khabib as the goat. I get the undefeated record but 3 title defense in the greatest organisation in the world doesn't cut it compared to previous champions. Jones, GSP, Silva and Demetrious all have better resumes IMO
chicagoskycam
Land of #1 Overall Picks
that’s silly. He will be gone for a bit but not ever. I just don’t see it
I would really hope he doesn’t take up Football and really f*** up his body.
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Let’s be real, GSP didn’t want to fight him because he knew Silva was juicing (which we all learned afterwards) & it wouldn’t be a fair fight, not that he didn’t want to fight him. Putting both legacies on the line in those circumstances, I don’t blame him one bit.
There’s a massive respect between GSP & Khabib that would make a fight possible outside of the fact that GSP is 40 now & it’s not worth it, that I agree. Bad timing I guess!
K Fleur
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A lot of people are just not going to care about any of Jones’ accomplishments and he did that to himself.
demetrious beat up on a bunch of nobodies, Silva is a steroid cheat with a bunch of losses, Jones is a steroid cheat coming off of 2 straight losses (it would be 3 if Anthony Smith wasn’t a bigger man, don’t @ me or call me out on any of those Jones claims lol), and GSP is GSP- he’s got a legitimate argument but he also lost twice, and also arguably lost a couple decisions that went his way
Khabib dominated the toughest division in the sport, losing 1 round against Conor (former double champ) which he basically took off
I’d argue that defending his title in such dominant fashion against Conor, Poirier, and then Gaethje is perhaps the most impressive 3 fight run of all time. A+ competition and he ran through them like they were children
Like people point to a unanimous decision win against Tibau and Michael Johnson landing one punch on him as the points of weakness in his career lol. That’s insane
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It is kind of like with DC. An all-time great no doubt, but once you want to say greatest, you can easily find flaws on everybody. I mean, how would Anderson be remembered if he walked away before the Weidman fight?
Khabib went out on top with some dominating performances and it is a great way to be remembered. While I would have liked to see him be a bit more active, he is the one getting locked in a cage.
Khabib went out on top with some dominating performances and it is a great way to be remembered. While I would have liked to see him be a bit more active, he is the one getting locked in a cage.
Perennial
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Before Jones tested positive, here's a list of some of the fighters he beat...
Bader
Shogun
Rampage
Machida
Evans
Belfort
Sonnen
Gustafsson
Teixeira
Cormier
Evans and Gustafsson are the only ones he didn't finish
- Jan 23, 2010
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N o o d l e s
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SuperScript29
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I love what Khabib has done in his career and there's no question that he's among the greats. But when you think about it, it's really hard to put him on the top of the food chain in the goat discussion because the others have done something that Khabib has not done, and that is remain on the top of their weight class and cleaning out their division for a very long time. It's one thing being in the spotlight for a year or two and a completely other thing being on top for 7+ years. That's what these other champions have done.
The argument of "Khabib never looked in danger" doesn't really mean much, sure, the odds are he would beat anyone today in the division but we know any fight is a fight and anything is possible. Keep in mind that times change, which means major obstacles always arise such as newer powerful opponents, injuries, wear and tear, mental health issues from being under the spotlight for so long, etc. These are all major issues that Khabib never faced much of. I'm not saying he hasn't dealt with some of it, but definitely not on the same level as someone like GSP or Jon Jones.
If this retirement is legit (I hope not), we may never know how he would deal with these obstacles.
Not unhappy Khabib is retiring. Short title defense time. 5 fights in last 3 yrs. only 2 in last 2 yrs. Great fighter but will be a memory very quickly.
