UFC 229 Khabib vs McGregor: Analyzing the potential outcomes
There is now only a week left for this thrilling encounter at UFC 229. It is predicted that this will be the fight which will change the destinies of both Conor and Khabib as a loss in this match will ruin Conor's legacy and he might never be remembered as the greatest when it comes to the world of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As far as Khabib is concerned, a loss will mean a blot on his current record of 26-0-0.
Despite all these things, this will be the fight which will come out as a source of a lot of money for both the fighters. It is predicted that even though there aren't any advertising campaigns for this fight, it will be ranked the number 2 fight after the Conor-Mayweather fight in terms of the revenue it will be generating.
So, who will win?
If we look at the profile of Conor McGregor, he has that special left hand which almost every UFC fighter craves for in the octagon. The speed, the accuracy and the power from that left hand is just enough to knock out an elephant.
As we have seen from the Eddie Alvarez fight, Eddie's plan was to bring the fight to the ground but Conor had some other plans. His stand up helped him each and every time Eddie attempted a take-down. The point is, Conor's left hand is not only powerful and quick but also too accurate.
His fight with Nate Diaz portrayed some of his weak points. First of all, his cardio is not up to the level if we compare him with Khabib Nurmagomedov. Secondly, he is not that good when it comes to the ground game as within seconds he tapped out of the fight. With a grappler as strong as Khabib, Conor will be literally mauled in front of the whole world.
This is not the case wherein he got under his opponent's skin as the world has witnessed in the case of Jose Aldo. Aldo lost the fight mentally even before the actual fight. Playing with the opponent's mind and using it in his favour is the thing in which Conor is an expert.
This is not the case when it comes to Khabib and we have witnessed the same in the recent press conference wherein Conor was blasting Khabib on top of his lungs but everything went in vain as Khabib never got fazed.
In short, Conor prefers a stand-up fight and his left hand might be that edge in this fight.
As far as Khabib is concerned, he prefers a ground game and is also amongst the best wrestlers in the UFC. But he has some weaknesses as well. After witnessing the fight with Michael Johnson, we have seen that in the first round, Khabib was literally rocked which simply proves that his boxing game is not that good or in short amateurish.
Even though he might not be good at stand-up, one thing that is underestimated is his chin. He has taken various vicious kicks and punches but never went down. In case of Al Iaquinta fight, the fans at one point thought that Khabib will get knocked down as the way he was taking his opponent's punches on his chin were quite absurd.
We have also witnessed that despite taking down an opponent, he was not able to finish several of his opponents. If Conor somehow gets up after getting a serious ground mauling, Khabib might lose this match.
Conclusion
If Conor goes down, there are slim chances of him winning the match whereas if he lands his left hand perfectly while Khabib is going in for a take-down, things will be in favour of The Notorious One.
This match is a classic case of a wrestler versus a striker.
So, who do you think will win the fight? Tell us in the comments below!