Conor NEVER believed he could beat Khabib. Look at the evidence.

[Brit_Brawler]

He ducked the fight for years, had an anchor baby, tried to get himself arrested, couldn't show up to talk trash at the press conference without being drunk, couldn't look Khabib in the eyes at the staredown. Then once he had to actually give location, he gave up mentally after the 2nd round, trying to smile, touch gloves, verbally apologize, then gave up his back, ****ing tapped early and got spat on.

...other than that he did great.

Show me where he tried to touch gloves. I keep hearing this but didn’t see it. Conor always holds his hand out in such a way at start of the rounds in every fight. It’s a distancing thing.

He damn sure never tried at the start of the fight

 

[Bloodhound]

It's nothing new, except Khabib never did it before in 26 professional fights.

Again, you are ignoring circumstances.

Like the fact that this was his 2nd 5 round fight ever, and a fighter is much more likely to cruise/take a round off in a 5 round fight than a 3 round fight.

Also, he cruised in the Iaquinta fight too and stopped attempting takedowns, its just that Al wasn't able to steal any rounds despite that.

 

[Peteyandjia]

Again, you are ignoring circumstances.

Like the fact that this was his 2nd 5 round fight ever, and a fighter is much more likely to cruise/take a round off in a 5 round fight than a 3 round fight.

Also, he cruised in the Iaquinta fight too and stopped attempting takedowns, its just that Al wasn't able to steal any rounds despite that.

Right... so credit to Conor, if for nothing else in that fight, being able to dig down into his own questionable cardio & steal a round off of Khabib, by stuffing takedowns and getting the better of Khabib on the feet during that one round.

Other than that, Conor got obliterated; but a true analysis has to give him credit for that one round.

 

[Bloodhound]

Right... so credit to Conor, if for nothing else in that fight, being able to dig down into his own questionable cardio & steal a round off of Khabib, by stuffing takedowns and getting the better of Khabib on the feet during that one round.

Other than that, Conor got obliterated; but a true analysis has to give him credit for that one round.

He won the round which Khabib cruised on and decided to strike with him, make sure to highlight that.

And he only won by a little bit.

But then Khabib stopped cruising in the 4th and finished him without much fight.

 

[Bob Sagat]

Other than that, Conor got obliterated; but a true analysis has to give him credit for that one round.

A true analysis is done with context. And the context for him taking the round is that Khabib was tired from beating his face in the round before to a level approaching a stoppage TKO. You can't even refute this. You call it an excuse but it's literally the best excuse there can be.

 

[Massapiece]

Another thing I noticed is during the staredown in cage just before the fight started, he wasn't wanting to get as close as possible and wasn't talking trash like usual. Struck me as odd. And just his general mannerisms before the fight felt like pseudo confidence and no the usual confidence we see from him.

I noticed him look in multiple directions, every where but straight at Khabib. Those are actually tells of fear. When 1 is afraid of another they will look around for ways of escape. Of course they were in a cage and there was no escape route but its a psychological/natural instinct.

 

[Final Say]

Threads like these are why sherdog sucks

 

[robertcop2]

Usually i dont like threads like this but I had noticed the exact same things. Only thing i want to know is why did conor accept the fight anyway

I agree he always knew he doesn’t have a chance. Why did he take the fight?

It was inevitable.
He wanted to promote his whisky.
He thought a loss wouldn’t matter much.
He is going to earn a lot of money.

 

[EGarrett]

Show me where he tried to touch gloves. I keep hearing this but didn’t see it. Conor always holds his hand out in such a way at start of the rounds in every fight. It’s a distancing thing.

He damn sure never tried at the start of the fight

I'll .gif it just for you...

 

[Peteyandjia]

He won the round which Khabib cruised on and decided to strike with him, make sure to highlight that.

Not true, Khabib attempted several takedowns in the 3rd, & Conor stuffed them.

 

[Peteyandjia]

A true analysis is done with context. And the context for him taking the round is that Khabib was tired from beating his face in the round before to a level approaching a stoppage TKO. You can't even refute this. You call it an excuse but it's literally the best excuse there can be.

At best, you're still admitting Conor won the 3rd, and simply explaining why, saying Khabib was tired.

 

[Bloodhound]

Not true, Khabib attempted several takedowns in the 3rd, & Conor stuffed them.

Lol Khabib could have kept trying to wrestle, why didn't he?

Unless he just didn't want to tire himself out and was saving himself for the rest of the fight.

 

[Bloodhound]

At best, you're still admitting Conor won the 3rd, and simply explaining why, saying Khabib was tired.

No one is disputing that Conor won the 3rd, its just that Khabib was cruising.

 

[Peteyandjia]

Lol Khabib could have kept trying to wrestle, why didn't he?

Unless he just didn't want to tire himself out and was saving himself for the rest of the fight.

Khabib tried to take Conor down several times in that 3rd round, and he could not. And then he lost the round. For the first time in his career.

The fact he took Conor down in 1, 2, and 4 is great, amazing, but you still have to give Conor credit for the 3rd, if you are being honest.

 

[boingyman]

I don't think he never believed. I think he knew it wouldn't be easy.

 

[Khabib Fan]

He ducked the fight for years, had an anchor baby, tried to get himself arrested, couldn't show up to talk trash at the press conference without being drunk, couldn't look Khabib in the eyes at the staredown. Then once he had to actually give location, he gave up mentally after the 2nd round, trying to smile, touch gloves, verbally apologize, then gave up his back, ****ing tapped early and got spat on.

...other than that he did great.

Conor reminded me of this scene in Game of Thrones.

 

[Bloodhound]

Khabib tried to take Conor down several times in that 3rd round, and he could not. And then he lost the round. For the first time in his career.

The fact he took Conor down in 1, 2, and 4 is great, amazing, but you still have to give Conor credit for the 3rd, if you are being honest.

Lol why do you think was Conor all of the sudden able to stuff Khabib in the 3rd, yet in the 4th Khabib took him down easily?

Unless... Khabib was strategically not trying his hardest in the 3rd.

 

[Peteyandjia]

Lol why do you think was Conor all of the sudden able to stuff Khabib in the 3rd, yet in the 4th Khabib took him down easily?

Unless... Khabib was strategically not trying his hardest in the 3rd.

Because every shot is different.

 

[Bloodhound]

Because every shot is different.

Of course, sometimes wrestlers don't try their hardest on TD attempts.

They just like to press you to the cage to make you tired, instead of expending their own energy trying to get you down.

 

[Bob Sagat]

At best, you're still admitting Conor won the 3rd, and simply explaining why, saying Khabib was tired.

That's the whole point of an analysis, explaining the 'why'. You're cravenly holding on to one small piece of the puzzle and acting like that's some kind of enlightened view, in fact, I think your word for it was analysis too..