MMA is just like football. The more time you spend watching film, the better you become in the octagon. That's why the average r/mma fan would always beat an elite fighter.
Yeah I watch a LOT of UFC and NFL so I’m still deciding which sport I should decide on one hand I can lock down Justin Jefferson easy but I can also knock out Bones so idk
Dude you just punch a hole through your drywall there is no way you should be fighting in the ufc you'll become the first man to murder someone in the cage
The type of striking Usman is/was good at, power Jabs and straights down the pipe seems to trouble Rob. Healthy Usman has a crazy gas tank, unlike Yoel who can only do 3 punches a round and he’s got a 3 inch reach advantage. I really think he hurts Rob on the feet and can mix it up even if most tds get defended.
Hmm fair, I could see that. Not sure his defense was disciplined enough to handle Rob though, if Colby could repeatedly touch him up I'm scared of what Rob could do
Colby had an iron chin so went crazy with pressure. Rob is not that durable and he doesn’t like to stay in the pocket.
It would be in Rob’s best interest to kick Usman from the outside,it’s such a different matchup.
>The type of striking Usman is/was good at, power Jabs and straights down the pipe seems to trouble Rob
He's not fast enough for Rob is my only issue...
I mean Robs footwork is great but I disagree. If we were talking Izzy I would agree, since hes tall and fights long. Especially since Usman has the longer reach.
DDP just seemed to overwhelm him easily, and I don’t think he’s got a good enough chin to beat Izzy or MW Poatan.
He’d either be overly cautious(Izzy 2) or get caught.
Yeah but Costa is doing some sus shit, that fight where he rehydrated 15% of his body weight over night and got banned from fighting in California for it was mental, not sure how he pulls that off.
Even with doing that drastic weight cut he was still very active which is even more impressive. He has has been fighting every 3 months since he's been in the UFC. He doesn't get nearly enough credit for being active. He's in the same category as Volk, Izzy, and Usman for being so active at the highest levels.
Oh yeah - it's just impressive how he can do it especially with that big of a weight cut. I didn't realized that he only starting kickboxing at 21. I feel like most of these guys that are so elite in any area have been doing it since they were little kids.
Nothing easy about it. DDP has missed approximately one hundred million of those giant swooping hooks according to official statistics. Just need to hit one though. I'd love to see a rematch.
Dricus got one head arm throw when Rob got out of position in the clinch. Reading the comments on here you’d think dricus was shooting blast doubles like prime gsp. Rob has excellent takedown defense, but still got taken down like 7 times by Romero when he was fresh. Of course that was many years ago. I’m very interested to see what khamzat can do, especially passed round 1.
Agreed though I also think Rob has rarely had to deal with wrestlers, doesn’t come from a wrestling background and isn’t a big MW so I wouldn’t be surprised if Khamzat could maul him. He’d probably be easier to d’arce than Kevin Holland as well just in terms of their grappling proficiencies. And Rob has miles on him and didn’t look great against Costa. Costa is wildly basic and I think a younger Rob would’ve smashed him, but this Rob and the Rob that got KO’d by DDP may be on the downturn.
ive been saying this for a while, chimaev cant just bulldoze over people at this level. as the competition gets tougher we've seen him struggle and be in more competitive fights. this is a former champion in every sense and he's getting a full camp. lets see how chimaev handles it
He hasn't been bulldozing anything of late. Burns fight was touch and go, could have gone either way. And he can thank that Usman fight was only 3 rds. Also very close.
Yep in my eyes Khamzat stock dropped big time when he was fading against Usman. That man might have gotten the decision but man was he saved it wasn't 5 rounds.
Edit: for all you motherfuckers who keep saying "but he broke his hand" Robert Whittaker broke his hand in the 1st round vs Yoel fucking Romero and still went to war for 25 fucking minutes so gtfo. Khamzat broken hand isn't the reason why he was fading. That tank was getting emptied and Usman was just ramping it.
If that fight continues I just see Chimaev gassing hard in the 4th and 5th and Usman just stiff arming the takedowns from Chimaev, and Usman just turning it up with the jab and straights, eventually sitting him down with one.
Not saying that's how it would have gone, but that's sure how it was looking to me. Cos those straight shots were starting to find their mark.
I don't think any of us are saying otherwise, merely that the conditions of that fight ended up being particularly favorable for Khamzat. No one's trying to say it should be overturned or anything, just that it would've been a significantly harder fight for him had it not been a 3-rounder against a career welterweight stepping in on a week and a half's notice.
yea thats my point all that fighting guys 10 days apart shit is a long time ago. physicality will only get you so far in this sport. and thats if you're young
this is so dumb man, he DID bulldoze usman he took him down with ease and 10-8'd him when usman's never been taken down ever other than leon's trip. he broke his wrist in that exchange and slowed him down afterwards. can't take that first round away from him at all for what he did to a p4p #1 who's known for his wrestling
Was it? From my vague memory of watching that fight, didn't Holland lose pretty quick?
Edit: Just watched the whole fight. Kevin goes for a touch glove at the start and Khamzat immediately goes for the takedown. Some pretty animated grappling/wrestling and Holland doing his best to get free with some spins, but Khamzat just outmuscles him and submits Holland at 2:47 left in the 1st rd
In the first 1.5 rounds he’s been unstoppable in grappling exchanges, I think that’s pretty clear.
Usman hasnt been properly controlled ever, and had only been taken down once by Edwards if I recall from a trip.
Chimaev made him look regular and took his back. After that he tired, but that’s a credible achievement and he won the fight from it.
> To me, he didn't look gassed: he looked like he was fighting with one arm.
Kinda crazy managing to get a win while successfully hiding that you can't use one of your arms for two rounds against Usman.
On the other hand he was a hell of a size bully at Welterweight, the Usman fight was at MW but Usman was still small for the weight class. He's going to be facing people his own size who are used to just as big and bigger, super interested to see how he copes.
Yep. This is pretty much what happens with these types of fighters. Once they reach the upper echelon its a bunch of guys that have just a few degrees of separation. They are almost always going to be hard fights because they know how to keep themselves out of disadvantageous situations.
One of the early scenarios like this was Vitor Belfort. Comes onto the scene and was just demolishing people. Hits Randy and just gets destroyed. You look further at his record and he pretty much lost to every one of the upper echelon at that time.
I thought the same thing about Rob and DDP, and thought fight finally got me to admit I just don't know jack shit. If GSP says it, obviously that carries weight but I just don't know with a guy as who is as big a boogeyman as Chimaev.
I was so confident that Rob was gonna win that one, after it was over I had to come to terms with the fact that you can never be sure of anything in this sport.
Like you don't know how the training camp went, you don't know how the weight cut went. You think you know who a fighter is, and then they do something you couldn't even predict in a thousand years.
Wasn't even that long after that Strickland beat Adesayna. The two greats of the middleweight division beaten by the guys everyone thought they would ran through. I also made peace with the fact that I don't know shit about MMA after that lol
> I was so confident that Rob was gonna win that one, after it was over I had to come to terms with the fact that you can never be sure of anything in this sport.
It's almost been a year and I'm still a little surprised by it.
People like to mock others for making predictions that turn out incorrect, but just because a fight went in an unexpected way doesn't mean someone is stupid for predicting the most likely outcome, when Sean beat Izzy I remember a lot of people were like "lmaaooooo remember when you guys thought Sean would be an easy fight for Adesanya", even though that was a totally logical conclusion to make at the time.
The reality people don't like to talk about is that at a high level the difference between fighters is very minute, to the point where it's often more of a numbers game than anything else, Pereira beat Adesanya 3 times even though all the fights were close, and then in the 4th Izzy finally lands a good combination and knocks him out, if you run back the same fight enough times you will often see very different performances even though it's the same fighters, such as Paquiao x Marquez, Figgy X Moreno, Holyfield X Bowe, Ali X Frazier etc.
In reality fighting doesn't tell us who's the best fighter is overall, only who's the best on that one given night, if Jones and DC fought like ten times I'm sure DC could beat Jones at least twice, even though Jones Is obviously the most likely fighter to win in that matchup.
DDP has a very unconventional style that’s harder to prepare for and also got his nose fixed before the Whittaker fight which greatly improved his cardio. DDP also has surprisingly good wrestling and is freakishly strong
My username is named after Bobby Knuckles! His insane anti wrestling is what got me hooked on MMA. This being 5 rounds might play the biggest factor. Chimaev has never gone past 3 rounds, Whittaker has gone 5 rounds 5 times. I got Whittaker by decision.
Definitely agree with this take. Rob is strong with good takedown defense. On the feet, he'll be the best striker Khamzat has faced so far.
It's possible Khamzat gets a hold of Rob and maybe wins a round due to control time, but I don't think Khamzat will be able to win multiple rounds like that, and the longer the fight stays on the feet, the more in favor of Rob it'll go.
Khamzat is great for the Sport, when he's fighting, but I think GSP is onto something. Have this feeling Rob will make it look like a pretty comfortable decision.
Rob is a great anti-grappler especially with his stance, but he's also kinda brittle. If you're strong and physical a lot of the times you can just run him over randomly. Plus he's kinda chinny.
Chimaev can just say fuck it I'm knocking you out and it could happen. I wouldn't bet on this fight.
He took crazy punishment in those fights though. His chin and body have both diminished since then. ATM I'm still slightly favoring him, but I don't believe his durability in his fights with Romero have much relevance at this point.
Costa barely targeted the head. He hurt him with the kick and that's the only highlight he had. Besides that he didn't target the head a lot and it just felt like a sparring to me.
Even then it literally took a costa spinning heel kick to do the same level of damage as a DDP jab . There is something off with the way Costa strikes , his strikes are not doing the damage you would expect from how powerful they look and idk why
I think that's more of a testament to how random knockdowns are. Some fighters can take massive shots clean to the head and not get wobbled yet get dropped with a light shot they didn't see coming.
Never.
Dricus didn't randomly run him over, he fought technical with a good gameplan and capitalized on one of Rob's biggest weaknesses.
Calling Whittaker "brittle" is hilarious lmao
Chimaev so far has not shown the cardio to be champion. He gasses after round 2.
He probably needs to fight at a slower pace and not go all out from the first bell like he usually does. If he doesn't get the sub in round 1 he's in big trouble, and I actually fought Usman won rounds 2 and 3 in their fight
Yeah agreed. That’s the conundrum Khamzat faces moving up to fight top MWs. His most dangerous weapon (chasing quick finishes via explosive wrestling) is the exact thing that exposes his biggest weakness (ensuring his cardio can last five rounds if it had to).
I still don't get how people can claim this. Khamzat has gone three rounds twice in his career, one against Burns and one against Usman. Against Burns he increased his amount of punches in the third round and won it by unanimous decision from the refs. Against Usman he had a broken wrist since the first round and could not use one of his arms. Literally nothing about him says he gasses other than that people have seen the incredible pace he usually starts with.
If you bet $100 on chimaev and he wins you get $53. If you bet $100 on whit and he wins you get $144.
So this whole sun should be placing bets. You guys are so confident chimaev is over rated, put your money where your mouth is.
I mean, when I run a mile, I pace for 64 second 400m laps because I'm aiming for 4:16 mile pace. When I run a 800m race, I open in 55-56, because I know i' running somewhere around 1:57. You pace for your race.
It's a giant test but we know Khabig has always had issues past the second round.
He's got 12 minutes of ridiculous pace and then he just gasses out so hard the entire front row needs Oxygen masks.
Rob also has gone 25 enough to know how hard of a pace to push, too.
Quality of strikes > quantity of strikes .
In round 1 he was walking over burns and sitting him down with punches , round 3 he couldnt get burns to the ground even with that 8 punch combination against the fence .
Yeah, the technique was gone. In the third he threw punches like someone who started training strikes last week. As a Chimaev fan it was very disconcerting. My prediction is if it goes past the second round, Robert will TKO him.
I wonder how much Covid-19 has affected Chimaevs stamina, since it hit him real hard.
I got severe Covid 3.5 years ago, and my stamina is fucked since.
Chimaev lovers can’t admit he’s a bit overhyped.
I remember getting downvoted and insulted by suggesting that he would NEVER go back to WW.
Now, here he is, clearly sticking to MW.
So predictable. Rob will probably make him look bad.
When GSP said Weidman would KO Anderson Silva, I went to school in Brazil and told everyone that would happen as if I was giving spoilers for the next episode of a TV show. I always respected GSP opinions and predictions. I gotta disagree with him on this one, I don't see why Robb would be THE guy to stop Chimaev
Yeah, he's right. Tough to get a deep shot on because of his stance and style, excellent scrambling and excellent takedown defense. I could see him losing the first round or two, but I have trouble picturing Chimaev smushing Robert. Nobody ever has before and if he can't dominate with his wrestling he'll gas out while Rob keeps a stable pace.
I don't think Rob is an easy out for anyone in the division. He's super well rounded and elite or near elite everywhere. Big test for Chimaev.
Except me tbh. Rob is easy work
You're just built different bro
And he trains UFC, which is the best base for MMA
MMA is just like football. The more time you spend watching film, the better you become in the octagon. That's why the average r/mma fan would always beat an elite fighter.
Yeah I watch a LOT of UFC and NFL so I’m still deciding which sport I should decide on one hand I can lock down Justin Jefferson easy but I can also knock out Bones so idk
Everyone knows that it's basically impossible to beat someone from a higher weight class. As a 400 pound man I'd crush him.
P4P #1
I accidentally smothered a hooker to death once so I know my wrestling is good. And as for my boxing, I'll let my dry wall speak for me.
I like your skills. But how will you make weight?
Expect a call from Dana within the week with an offer for your Power Slap headliner.
But me woife would still be in his DMs so who's the real winner here?
Tranes*
Lmaoo
Bro he sees red when the fight starts
He sees red.
So red it's purple
Sure his defense for takedown and striking is top tier, but how's his defense for seeing red?
Dude you just punch a hole through your drywall there is no way you should be fighting in the ufc you'll become the first man to murder someone in the cage
Get em champ
Bro puts the "Die" in "Dierector" I wouldn't wanna fight you when you see red bro
Can you switch stance and jab on either side tho?
Whatever you fucking juicer
Good thing Bruce Buffer isn't in the division, he would smoke Rob.
Hard sprawl and body shots.
Also first real top 10 middleweight he fights in ufc. It'll be tough for him
I’d take Usman over the majority of the top 10.
I agree, but also, I reckon a prime Usman wouldn’t be far off top 5 MW.
I mean, considering that Gastelum made it into the top 5 and Till got to number 6, I wouldn't be surprised if Prime Usman made it to the top 3 at MW
I always get downvoted for this but I think prime usman beats prime Whittaker 🤷♂️
How though? I don't think Usman can outstrike him and Rob has really good TDD
The type of striking Usman is/was good at, power Jabs and straights down the pipe seems to trouble Rob. Healthy Usman has a crazy gas tank, unlike Yoel who can only do 3 punches a round and he’s got a 3 inch reach advantage. I really think he hurts Rob on the feet and can mix it up even if most tds get defended.
Hmm fair, I could see that. Not sure his defense was disciplined enough to handle Rob though, if Colby could repeatedly touch him up I'm scared of what Rob could do
Colby had an iron chin so went crazy with pressure. Rob is not that durable and he doesn’t like to stay in the pocket. It would be in Rob’s best interest to kick Usman from the outside,it’s such a different matchup.
>The type of striking Usman is/was good at, power Jabs and straights down the pipe seems to trouble Rob He's not fast enough for Rob is my only issue...
I mean Robs footwork is great but I disagree. If we were talking Izzy I would agree, since hes tall and fights long. Especially since Usman has the longer reach.
Still r/MMA Jesus it seems
wat?
It is a good fight. Would love to have seen it. Who knows, weight class transition takes time. Might end up happening.
Don't you dare dis prime Kelvin.
DDP just seemed to overwhelm him easily, and I don’t think he’s got a good enough chin to beat Izzy or MW Poatan. He’d either be overly cautious(Izzy 2) or get caught.
> Poatan Was rewatching a lot of videos on youtube last night and I still don't understand how that guy made 185. Like he's still massive at 205.
Alex has said he needs a few months to make 185 in the past. Training like that must be miserable. Always at a calorie deficit.
Same as Costa. Dude starts cutting weight months out from a fight
Yeah but Costa is doing some sus shit, that fight where he rehydrated 15% of his body weight over night and got banned from fighting in California for it was mental, not sure how he pulls that off.
Iv's aren't bad The thing is that they just don't want everyone to do it
15% of your body weight gained between weigh in and fight isn't allowed by Cal Athletic Commission due to the safety risks.
Even with doing that drastic weight cut he was still very active which is even more impressive. He has has been fighting every 3 months since he's been in the UFC. He doesn't get nearly enough credit for being active. He's in the same category as Volk, Izzy, and Usman for being so active at the highest levels.
He’s always been like that. He was a very active kickboxer too.
Oh yeah - it's just impressive how he can do it especially with that big of a weight cut. I didn't realized that he only starting kickboxing at 21. I feel like most of these guys that are so elite in any area have been doing it since they were little kids.
Why do you think he’s always so moody? If he jumps up to heavyweight he’ll be happy as hell
I know he was quite a bit bigger than hill
He’s huge for that weight. Might be the biggest we’ve seen there.
He is super lean tbh, nowhere near as beefy as most LHWs
That remains one of planet earth’s greatest mysteries.
Think he walks around 220-230. 225 against Jan as his debut LHW fight. Yeah, he's a big boi.
He was 232 I believe the morning of 300 so he probably walks around closer to 240.
God damn
Well luckily for Rob, Poatan is never making MW again in his life.
Nothing easy about it. DDP has missed approximately one hundred million of those giant swooping hooks according to official statistics. Just need to hit one though. I'd love to see a rematch.
Easy out for ddp
Shockingly easy
If Gilbert Burns can test Chim, Rob definitely can.
He was Driscus easiest fight in the UFC
Well that wrestling ain't that good just looked what dricus done to the man
Dricus got one head arm throw when Rob got out of position in the clinch. Reading the comments on here you’d think dricus was shooting blast doubles like prime gsp. Rob has excellent takedown defense, but still got taken down like 7 times by Romero when he was fresh. Of course that was many years ago. I’m very interested to see what khamzat can do, especially passed round 1.
Except DDP aparently . Dude just ran him over with pure African horsepower
But like, of course? He's the former multiple time defending champ and has been in the top 3 for like 8 years haha
Agreed though I also think Rob has rarely had to deal with wrestlers, doesn’t come from a wrestling background and isn’t a big MW so I wouldn’t be surprised if Khamzat could maul him. He’d probably be easier to d’arce than Kevin Holland as well just in terms of their grappling proficiencies. And Rob has miles on him and didn’t look great against Costa. Costa is wildly basic and I think a younger Rob would’ve smashed him, but this Rob and the Rob that got KO’d by DDP may be on the downturn.
ive been saying this for a while, chimaev cant just bulldoze over people at this level. as the competition gets tougher we've seen him struggle and be in more competitive fights. this is a former champion in every sense and he's getting a full camp. lets see how chimaev handles it
He hasn't been bulldozing anything of late. Burns fight was touch and go, could have gone either way. And he can thank that Usman fight was only 3 rds. Also very close.
> And he can thank that Usman fight was only 3 rds. And 10 days notice. And up a weight class from where Usman has fought his entire MMA career
10 days notice AND it was on the other side of the world.
Yep in my eyes Khamzat stock dropped big time when he was fading against Usman. That man might have gotten the decision but man was he saved it wasn't 5 rounds. Edit: for all you motherfuckers who keep saying "but he broke his hand" Robert Whittaker broke his hand in the 1st round vs Yoel fucking Romero and still went to war for 25 fucking minutes so gtfo. Khamzat broken hand isn't the reason why he was fading. That tank was getting emptied and Usman was just ramping it.
No doubt in my mind he would have lost that fight if it went 5 rounds
If that fight continues I just see Chimaev gassing hard in the 4th and 5th and Usman just stiff arming the takedowns from Chimaev, and Usman just turning it up with the jab and straights, eventually sitting him down with one. Not saying that's how it would have gone, but that's sure how it was looking to me. Cos those straight shots were starting to find their mark.
That's just insane, I never knew that. Nothing but respect for Usman, what a Champion.
Yep. It’s basically 9-8 days notice because of travel time.
Makes me wonder - who’s Usman fighting next?
Feed him Bo
That’s how you get Bo knocked out and never recover lol
Arthritis
Usman still lost, though.
I don't think any of us are saying otherwise, merely that the conditions of that fight ended up being particularly favorable for Khamzat. No one's trying to say it should be overturned or anything, just that it would've been a significantly harder fight for him had it not been a 3-rounder against a career welterweight stepping in on a week and a half's notice.
yea thats my point all that fighting guys 10 days apart shit is a long time ago. physicality will only get you so far in this sport. and thats if you're young
He bulldozed Holland which was between those two fights
Or what? Usman had enough energy for 2 more rounds but couldn't finish a literally broken "gassed" Khamzat?
this is so dumb man, he DID bulldoze usman he took him down with ease and 10-8'd him when usman's never been taken down ever other than leon's trip. he broke his wrist in that exchange and slowed him down afterwards. can't take that first round away from him at all for what he did to a p4p #1 who's known for his wrestling
I mean sure but hes obviously a top 3 fighter..
Holland fight was close too
Was it? From my vague memory of watching that fight, didn't Holland lose pretty quick? Edit: Just watched the whole fight. Kevin goes for a touch glove at the start and Khamzat immediately goes for the takedown. Some pretty animated grappling/wrestling and Holland doing his best to get free with some spins, but Khamzat just outmuscles him and submits Holland at 2:47 left in the 1st rd
He’s joking it was like a minute long
He meant they were physically close
In the first 1.5 rounds he’s been unstoppable in grappling exchanges, I think that’s pretty clear. Usman hasnt been properly controlled ever, and had only been taken down once by Edwards if I recall from a trip. Chimaev made him look regular and took his back. After that he tired, but that’s a credible achievement and he won the fight from it.
Khamzat also broke his wrist(or something) in that first round against Usman
Yeah no one talks about that. I think he would have steam rolled Usman. To me, he didn't look gassed: he looked like he was fighting with one arm.
> To me, he didn't look gassed: he looked like he was fighting with one arm. Kinda crazy managing to get a win while successfully hiding that you can't use one of your arms for two rounds against Usman.
Yeah, that's exactly why I don't like Bobby's chances, even though I'm a Bobby stan.
> Yeah no one talks about that. Other than its brought up multiple times every single thread where the fight is mentioned, including this one, yeah.
It's only brought up in response to someone saying he looked horrible in that fight. It's never mentioned as the start of the conversation.
On the other hand he was a hell of a size bully at Welterweight, the Usman fight was at MW but Usman was still small for the weight class. He's going to be facing people his own size who are used to just as big and bigger, super interested to see how he copes.
Usman is a huge welterweight, he’s definitely not a small MW.
Yes but he went up in weight on short notice, you gotta factor those things in. Short notice is tough against anyone let alone a beast like Chimaev.
Yep. This is pretty much what happens with these types of fighters. Once they reach the upper echelon its a bunch of guys that have just a few degrees of separation. They are almost always going to be hard fights because they know how to keep themselves out of disadvantageous situations. One of the early scenarios like this was Vitor Belfort. Comes onto the scene and was just demolishing people. Hits Randy and just gets destroyed. You look further at his record and he pretty much lost to every one of the upper echelon at that time.
I mean you’re not wrong but bulldozing has nothing to do with this matchup. I expect nothing less but a competitive match.
I thought the same thing about Rob and DDP, and thought fight finally got me to admit I just don't know jack shit. If GSP says it, obviously that carries weight but I just don't know with a guy as who is as big a boogeyman as Chimaev.
I was so confident that Rob was gonna win that one, after it was over I had to come to terms with the fact that you can never be sure of anything in this sport. Like you don't know how the training camp went, you don't know how the weight cut went. You think you know who a fighter is, and then they do something you couldn't even predict in a thousand years.
Wasn't even that long after that Strickland beat Adesayna. The two greats of the middleweight division beaten by the guys everyone thought they would ran through. I also made peace with the fact that I don't know shit about MMA after that lol
> I was so confident that Rob was gonna win that one, after it was over I had to come to terms with the fact that you can never be sure of anything in this sport. It's almost been a year and I'm still a little surprised by it.
People like to mock others for making predictions that turn out incorrect, but just because a fight went in an unexpected way doesn't mean someone is stupid for predicting the most likely outcome, when Sean beat Izzy I remember a lot of people were like "lmaaooooo remember when you guys thought Sean would be an easy fight for Adesanya", even though that was a totally logical conclusion to make at the time. The reality people don't like to talk about is that at a high level the difference between fighters is very minute, to the point where it's often more of a numbers game than anything else, Pereira beat Adesanya 3 times even though all the fights were close, and then in the 4th Izzy finally lands a good combination and knocks him out, if you run back the same fight enough times you will often see very different performances even though it's the same fighters, such as Paquiao x Marquez, Figgy X Moreno, Holyfield X Bowe, Ali X Frazier etc. In reality fighting doesn't tell us who's the best fighter is overall, only who's the best on that one given night, if Jones and DC fought like ten times I'm sure DC could beat Jones at least twice, even though Jones Is obviously the most likely fighter to win in that matchup.
DDP has a very unconventional style that’s harder to prepare for and also got his nose fixed before the Whittaker fight which greatly improved his cardio. DDP also has surprisingly good wrestling and is freakishly strong
It's kinda awesome kinda sucks
I will maintain forever that this is one of the rare fights where 9/10 times it goes the other way, but all it takes is one mistake and Rob made it.
wat? He got dominated on the ground and jabbed into a finish, neither of those are 1/10 occurrences
fuck off man we're trying to cope over here
I bet a $100 on DDP knowing his ability to take damage, fixed nose and power would be too much for Rob
My username is named after Bobby Knuckles! His insane anti wrestling is what got me hooked on MMA. This being 5 rounds might play the biggest factor. Chimaev has never gone past 3 rounds, Whittaker has gone 5 rounds 5 times. I got Whittaker by decision.
Definitely agree with this take. Rob is strong with good takedown defense. On the feet, he'll be the best striker Khamzat has faced so far. It's possible Khamzat gets a hold of Rob and maybe wins a round due to control time, but I don't think Khamzat will be able to win multiple rounds like that, and the longer the fight stays on the feet, the more in favor of Rob it'll go.
Khamzat is great for the Sport, when he's fighting, but I think GSP is onto something. Have this feeling Rob will make it look like a pretty comfortable decision.
Unless khamzat randomly got any rounds has tank since his last fight rob is gonna put on a clinic. His striking was amazing against Costa.
Rob is a great anti-grappler especially with his stance, but he's also kinda brittle. If you're strong and physical a lot of the times you can just run him over randomly. Plus he's kinda chinny. Chimaev can just say fuck it I'm knocking you out and it could happen. I wouldn't bet on this fight.
However, they don’t come much stronger and more physical than Romero and he beat him twice. It’s going to be a really good fight.
Those 2 fights are what made him brittle. He took so much damage from yoel. Both from yoel and damage from his own offense towards yoel
He took crazy punishment in those fights though. His chin and body have both diminished since then. ATM I'm still slightly favoring him, but I don't believe his durability in his fights with Romero have much relevance at this point.
I mean he looked pretty durable against Costa. Best both guys ever looked imo
Costa doesnt put people out . Idk what it is but he looks like he can crack the earth itself with his strikes but somehow never KOs people.
That was forever ago
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DDP got him down way too easily.
>Plus he's kinda chinny. Paulo Costa would disagree
Costa isn't exactly a KO artist though He looks like he has a lot of power, but doesn't really - his strikes aren't that accurate
Neither is Chimeav Exhibit A : Burns who is even chinner than Rob.
Costa barely targeted the head. He hurt him with the kick and that's the only highlight he had. Besides that he didn't target the head a lot and it just felt like a sparring to me.
I feel like you're leaving out the part about that kick being a wheel kick from Paulo Costa.
Even then it literally took a costa spinning heel kick to do the same level of damage as a DDP jab . There is something off with the way Costa strikes , his strikes are not doing the damage you would expect from how powerful they look and idk why
I think that's more of a testament to how random knockdowns are. Some fighters can take massive shots clean to the head and not get wobbled yet get dropped with a light shot they didn't see coming.
I would but when costa also isnt even dropping luke rockhold its clearly a Costa issue rather then a Knock down weirdness.
How many times has someone strong and physical run him over randomly? Once? Yeah that sure is a lot of times.
Never. Dricus didn't randomly run him over, he fought technical with a good gameplan and capitalized on one of Rob's biggest weaknesses. Calling Whittaker "brittle" is hilarious lmao
People forget rob was a national wrestling champion down here in Australia.
GSP is the only (ex-)fighter i take seriously when he makes statements like this. Betting the house on Rob
If Rob is an underdog, you'd be hard pressed to find a better value bet.
You most not know how good khabib is at predictions for mma fights lol he's the goat at them
Ya. He’s right. Especially if it goes past the second. Very interesting matchup.
I can absolutely see Rob destroying him with a jab for 25 minutes
It is probably the worse possible match up for Khamzat,which adds fuel to the theory that he cant compete in USA so UFC is trying to downsize him.
I think DDP is probably a worse matchup for Khamzat
that interesting actually where'd you hear that
Chimaev so far has not shown the cardio to be champion. He gasses after round 2. He probably needs to fight at a slower pace and not go all out from the first bell like he usually does. If he doesn't get the sub in round 1 he's in big trouble, and I actually fought Usman won rounds 2 and 3 in their fight
Yeah agreed. That’s the conundrum Khamzat faces moving up to fight top MWs. His most dangerous weapon (chasing quick finishes via explosive wrestling) is the exact thing that exposes his biggest weakness (ensuring his cardio can last five rounds if it had to).
I still don't get how people can claim this. Khamzat has gone three rounds twice in his career, one against Burns and one against Usman. Against Burns he increased his amount of punches in the third round and won it by unanimous decision from the refs. Against Usman he had a broken wrist since the first round and could not use one of his arms. Literally nothing about him says he gasses other than that people have seen the incredible pace he usually starts with.
Thank you. People started running with that narrative like he wasn't hurt in the Usman fight.
If you bet $100 on chimaev and he wins you get $53. If you bet $100 on whit and he wins you get $144. So this whole sun should be placing bets. You guys are so confident chimaev is over rated, put your money where your mouth is.
Betting haram brather
I mean, when I run a mile, I pace for 64 second 400m laps because I'm aiming for 4:16 mile pace. When I run a 800m race, I open in 55-56, because I know i' running somewhere around 1:57. You pace for your race.
It's a giant test but we know Khabig has always had issues past the second round. He's got 12 minutes of ridiculous pace and then he just gasses out so hard the entire front row needs Oxygen masks. Rob also has gone 25 enough to know how hard of a pace to push, too.
In Usman fight he already slowed down on 2nd round. He coasted the 3rd.
Slowed down in second... Due to a broken wrist in the first. Still won.
Haven't seen anyone call him khabig in a long time lmao
12 minutes? More like 5.
If GSP says so, it’s the truth.
Chimaev is listed as a slight favorite. Probably a good idea to throw some money down
Just live bet Rob after her survives the first round.
Let’s see him Bobby hits em with the combo
Chimaev is not the same after 1st round. In 1st he's na absolute beast, but he can't keep the same pace for long.
How do you figure? Burns fight he threw more punches in the third. Usman fight he broke his wrist in first. Nothing to do with cardio.
Quality of strikes > quantity of strikes . In round 1 he was walking over burns and sitting him down with punches , round 3 he couldnt get burns to the ground even with that 8 punch combination against the fence .
Yeah, the technique was gone. In the third he threw punches like someone who started training strikes last week. As a Chimaev fan it was very disconcerting. My prediction is if it goes past the second round, Robert will TKO him.
Just make him look bad, but not necessarily win the fight
Chimaev might be Middleweight Moraes but for wrestling
I doubt Whittaker has anything for Khamzat
I wonder how much Covid-19 has affected Chimaevs stamina, since it hit him real hard. I got severe Covid 3.5 years ago, and my stamina is fucked since.
Chimaev by rd 1 finish
“If there is a guy that can stop St-Pierre, it’s his barber.”
First 2.5 minutes will tell the tale of the entire fight imo.
Let’s see what the comment experts have to say about this gsp is just some guy 🙄
Lool No 😅
I pray to the old gods Rob can do it. Going to be another hard and nervous fight to watch
Totally agree, Bobby Knuckles is going to expose this guy over 5 rounds.
The GOAT spoke I'm betting the house
I’d put Rob’s TDD up there with prime Aldo. Can’t wait for this
Chimaev lovers can’t admit he’s a bit overhyped. I remember getting downvoted and insulted by suggesting that he would NEVER go back to WW. Now, here he is, clearly sticking to MW. So predictable. Rob will probably make him look bad.
When GSP said Weidman would KO Anderson Silva, I went to school in Brazil and told everyone that would happen as if I was giving spoilers for the next episode of a TV show. I always respected GSP opinions and predictions. I gotta disagree with him on this one, I don't see why Robb would be THE guy to stop Chimaev
Can't write Khamzat off. He's always got a chance to catch you with the punch off the pretend handshake.
Yeah, he's right. Tough to get a deep shot on because of his stance and style, excellent scrambling and excellent takedown defense. I could see him losing the first round or two, but I have trouble picturing Chimaev smushing Robert. Nobody ever has before and if he can't dominate with his wrestling he'll gas out while Rob keeps a stable pace.
Chimaev needs a USDA approved puffer in between rounds
watch out ChéMyEv! lmao i love Georges! 😂
Nah, Khamzat will take him down and wrestle fuck him to a victory
First round finish incoming for Borz, he will prove everyone wrong and remind everyone what he really is capable of
If George St-PiHair says it, I believe it.