Brock’s never not been under contract with UFC, since the day he stepped into their octogon. They own his exclusive rights for an unknown number of remaining fights (dating back to the beginning). He ‘renegotiates’ the money for every fight he does, but he already has a signed contract.
If Khabib can avoid the shots in round one, it’s going to be a very long night for Conor. If Khabib pounds him into oblivion, Conor is going to retire. Then he’ll start the ‘if I came back, I’d want X megastar.’ Then we’ll get that GSP fight.
The more that I talk about the fight, and no matter how impressive Khabib's ground and pound game is, the more i'm leaning towards Conor winning. Joe Rogan put it perfectly on his podcast, somebody is going to dominate with their respective style. We've seen Khabib get caught trying to move away from punches and kicks, even by a drained Iaquinta. We've seen fighters be able to survive Khabib a full 5 founds. We've also seen Conor stuff takedowns from Mendes and Alvarez, two champion fighters who got dismantled by his left hand. Both believed him to be easier than he is, and both are great on the ground. While I don't think Khabib will be phased by Conor's trash talk, I don't think he believes he has to change anything or is going to push himself harder because he hasn't lost yet and his coach is telling him he's gonna steamroll him. I'm most looking forward to tomorrow in how the conference goes.
I agree with all of that. I think the main factor here is how seriously Khabib takes Conor's punches. He's going to have to stay in the danger zone to set up at least one takedown, and he is actually pretty easily hit (all things considered). I honestly believe Khabib was just kind of coasting and having fun against Al, but he needs to get in there and do some serious damage early on to take the sting out of Conor's punches. I've been saying Khabib is a nightmare for Conor for the last couple of years, and it may very well be a blowout, but the closer it gets to the fight, the more I'm thinking Conor is able to find a home for his left hand before the smothering even takes place. I don't know man. I think this fight plays out differently every time it goes down because they're both so good - it's just a matter of which particular scenario plays out.
I re-watched Alvarez vs Mcgregor very recently. Conor is so unbelievably fast and hard hitting for his size that his lefts are almost impossible to catch without replay. I remember thinking that everyone was so hyped on Conor that they were counting out Eddie too early. I was dead wrong, he was outclassed and made to look foolish. You do not see that happen to champions often. Perfect placement every time he throws his left. In fact, I don't believe he threw a single left hand that wasn't going to land that entire fight. He's as famous as he is because he is factually an amazing fighter with skills that impress everyone across the board. Khabib is most definitely his biggest threat yet, but I felt that same way about Aldo and then Alvarez and Conor blew away my expectations both times.
This match up is more interesting I think though because both guys are somehow a terrible stylistic match up for the other in some weird way. Aldo and Alvarez are some of the best ever but also take a lot of damage even when they win....which doesn't work when you're against someone as precise and lethal as Conor. On the other hand, Khabib can win the fight without getting hit if he just plays his cards right. Like you said earlier though, it's almost like everyone's assuming Khabib will win no problem and getting it in his head that this is the "easy" fight...same mistake the others have made.
I don’t think Khabib truly thinks this will be easy. But he knows he has to stick to the game plan this time Eddie didn’t try to wrestle him until he ate three or four hard shots. Khabib has gotten tagged before, and recovered. He’s just a different type of fighter. His sheer strength is something everyone talks about. He has developed so many of the muscles your body forgets it has, to complete the takedowns. I truly truly believe that Khabib will steam roll if he makes it out of the first. The Russians will roll.
Much rather Gus than Cain. I feel like he'd wreck a Cain Velasquez who hasn't fought in almost 2.5 yrs.