The point of this thread is for the people using the mendes fight as the deciding factor in the khabib fight.
The arguement is, because mendes took conor down khabib will as well. I counter this by saying the two reasons listed.
You slightly went off course but i feel like i was respectful in response to you.
You were, and I apologise if you feel I was not.
Let me try to put this way: I don't think it is "the deciding factor". But it is indeed the biggest question mark for this fight.
The formula is simple:
- Khabib needs to take Conor down or he is done.
- Conor needs to keep it standing (and away from Khabib) he he is done.
The ONLY fight we saw Conor against a pure wrestler/grappler was Mendes.
And the same way you mention Conor's injury, I just reminded you the fact mendes had no camp, so advantage was still Conor's (plus Conor knew Merndes had no camp while Mendes had no idea about Conor's injury).
The main point though, is that while Mendes is a good wrestler, his game is far more well rounded than Khabib... but Khabib is far better at the pressure & takedowns (once he puts his hands on his opponent). Plus Khabib is bigger & stronger than Mendes, so the danger increases there as well.
Beyond that, IMHO the biggest unknown is HOW will Conor be back? How will the 2 years off affect his timing/accuracy?
Or even taking a step in a different direction: Is Conor really back? or did he just want one last fight before calling it quits? I mean, I think he prolonged his inactivity as long as he possibly could, and it is not far fetched to think that if he did not fight now, he would start losing sponsors who are paying for his vacation.
So my fear is that he is simply cashing out, not really counting on winning (much like Floyd fight) and hoping for the best.
Now, he is a professional, and he will do his due diligence to be in shape and do everything he can to go out and win this fight. But he simply might not be looking to be back and active as a fighter. And that is not a good thing.