UFC 229 Khabib V Conor McGregor

UFC 229 is on Five live early hours of Sunday morning as Khabib defends his belt against Conor McGregor

I' am thinking having not fought in the octagon for nearly two years I am not expecting Conor to blast out of the blocks for this one but think he might force a stoppage in Rd 2

I think McGregor will come flying out the traps, but a lack of recent fights will catch up with him in the later rounds where Khabib will get him down and get the win.

McGregor will then knock him out in the rematch

Comor certainly made his intentions known at the weigh in by aiming a kick at Khabib as both men made the 155 lb limit

(06-10-2018 01:49 )jumbo_jim Wrote:  I think McGregor will come flying out the traps, but a lack of recent fights will catch up with him in the later rounds where Khabib will get him down and get the win.

McGregor will then knock him out in the rematch

I think you could be right stamina and ground game may well decide this fight

The biggest mystery in the fight is largely due to Khabib being untested so no-one other than Khabib & his coaching team knows what his chin is like or what his gas-tank is like when going beyond 3 rounds.Is Khabib really that superior/ untouchable compared to everyone else in the Featherweight/Lightweight division as his record suggests.I'm not hating on Khabib far from it but scratch beneath the surface & look at the caliber of his opponents Conor is the first real 'live' (top 3) opponent he has faced.Khabib's last 3 opponents Al Ianquinta,Michael Johnson & Edson Barboza good fighters though they are,are fringe top 10 fighters.But Khabib's Sambo style (which is effectively wrestling against much heavier opponents than yourself) is a very effective fighting style in UFC in which wrestling is one of the key fundamentals for a successful career in UFC.

Conor has lighting speed with knockout power in either hand & has the ability to throw punches from crazy angles but he also has a great chin himself.Conor's weaknesses are pretty common-knowledge in his stamina/conditioning where is can often be seen blowing as early as the 2nd round,his inactivity which can cause lack of fight sharpness & his wrestling ability (or lack of it) & his ground game on his back.

I can see this fight panning out two ways either Connor can pick him off,avoid the take-downs & knock khabib out in the 1st or 2nd round or Khabib will maul him with takedowns & ground & pound Conor or submit him.My heart rules my head on this one for Conor winning by ko in the 2nd.

IMHO a disgusting end to the fight. There was no call for all that happened after Conor submitted


I feel the UFC should overturn the original decision and declare it no contest. Then if they feel Khabib should be stripped of title they can do but Khabib should be suspended not banned. Conor should be allowed to fight for vacant belt against a top ranked fighter (possibly Ferguson) and if he wins he should accept a mandatory title defence with 90 days

Was chuffed to bits seeing McGregor tap. He's beyond obnoxious now. No dignity about the guy at all. Just runs his mouth and says shameful things ad nauseum. Went WAY too far with Khabib.

No surprise he snapped at the end. Conor has got away with so much down the years I'd be amazed if Khabib is punished.

Hopefully now people will stop calling Conor an Irishman he is an embarrassment. Happy he lost i hope he now goes away

I think both fighters have behaved badly in this whole event to be perfectly honest. We all know Connor likes to cause a stir and act like a clown to sell more tickets, but some lines have been crossed here that really shouldn't have. Dana White has done very little to discourage such behaviour and almost seemed to think it was funny. No doubt rubbing his paws together with the pay-per-view potential, although he isn't laughing now. It was very clear just how deep the bad blood ran, and this little outburst could have been far worse especially amongst the audience and fans.

As things stand the Nevada State Athletics Commission have retrieved the footage and will be looking into some kind of possible punishment, particularly for Khabib after scaling the fence.

Anyway besides all this, the fight of the night definitely goes to Anthony Pettis and Tony Ferguson. An epic war and Tony looking as good as ever. I really want to see Khabib vs Ferguson. Khabib has mentioned before the fight that he has considered retiring once he's beaten the UFC poster boy (McGregor) to leave undefeated. Perhaps that's why he did what he did? We shall see but I'd very much like to see the Khabib vs Ferguson fight happen.
Conor didn't fight very well in my book, he needed a little more urgency in his work and failed to deliver. If that's all he's got a rematch is pointless.

I certainly wouldn't want Khabib to be stripped of the title fine him half (or more) of his purse money by all means but that one minute madness when he chose to jump out the octagon has overshadowed a one-sided dominant display over a former two-weight world champion but what happened has also now made him a hate figure in the sport.In the post-fight show both Michael Bisping & Tyrone Woodley were spot on when they explained the huge amount adrenaline that runs through your body before/ during & moments after a fight combined with any anger built up can be a lethal cocktail that fighters can often find it hard to control.We can only speculate as to what McGregor's Ju-Jitsu coach actually said to get Khabib to get him to do the things he did but several members of Khabib's team entered the octagon (a few of them actual UFC fighters) to fight Conor,from what I saw it looked as if one of them started throwing punches to the back of Conor's head.They should face life-time bans in UFC no question but shit like this happening could have easily fuelled fans to riot inside/or outside the arena.

When the dust finally settles from the aftermath of UFC 229 with the fight being as one-sided as it was I just don't the reason for a rematch,not unless Conor beats other rivals in the top 5 rankings like Tony Ferguson,Kevin Lee etc.As for Khabib as I say I hope he gets to keep the title but I guess the UFC (& USA) will be looking for a superhero to get behind to fight Khabib for the title like Ferguson,Kevin Lee or even Nate Diaz (should he beat #3 ranked Dustin Poirer in a few weeks).For me though the Lightweight Division outside the top 5 ranked fighters doesn't look a strong division compared to the Welterweight's (probably the most stacked weight division in UFC) which is where I could see khabib moving up to fight possibly Dos Anjos, Colby Covington or champ Tyrone Woodley (all are elite level wrestlers).

Agree with Bandwagon that fight of the night was between Tony Ferguson & Anthony Pettis but I do wonder stylistically would Ferguson have enough to beat Khabib,he has a very unpredictable style & has the tendency to stalk fighters with a very high work-rate (due to his endless fitness levels).Saying that he does have that ability to get tagged & hurt quite often (but he does have quick recovery levels).

Performance of the night for me undoubtedly went to 'The Black Beast' Derrick Lewis whilst he is as crude-as-hell & one-dimensional to watch & was on the verge of getting stopped a few times pulled off that devastating one punch knock-out (with seconds to go in the final round) against Alexander Volkov.Lewis has got to be one of the funniest & brutally honest fighters to hear being interviewed.