He’s only gone to the championship rounds twice, once against Conor who is a notorious gasser, and Al Iaquinta, in a fight where he stopped wrestling and went Econobeeb mode.
In a 3 round fight I think Khabib wins a decision here but 5 rounds is a looong time, just ask Cormier. Khabib is a very explosive fighter (no pun intended) and I don’t know if he can keep up this type of movement throughout the fight, which is why I speculate he’ll try to come in as light as he’s ever been to keep up the pace.
Dustin gets stronger as the fight progresses and technically, he’s got the stand up to give Khabib trouble and I think he’s going to land some significant strikes mid way through the fight.
Dustin has a very deceptive range awareness where he switches stances mid combination and lands shots you don’t expect. It also allows Dustin to cut off the cage exceptionally well because he can move laterally.
If at any point Khabib starts to take a back step I think we’ll see the tides turn in Dustin’s favor and land something significant.
Khabib’s wrestling obviously is the great equalizer in any match and I believe he should be favored over 100% of the LW roster, but I think Dustin and Tony are two fighters that have the best style and enough ‘crazy’ to give him problems, but the key here is, it’s a 5 round fight, not 3.
Just my opinion, it’s fun to try and find ways for the underdog to win, and I think very highly of Khabib. I hope it’ll be a very entertaining fight, a lot of eyes on this card.
See y’all Saturday morning !!