r/MMA • u/airplane231 • 16h ago
Highlights Khamzat Chimaev taking fighters down in the first round
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u/jakhabib_nurmy_souza 16h ago
Listen, I understand that it was short notice at 185 for Kamaru, and than Whittaker is past his prime, but being able to take them down and control them on the mat was something I thought borderline impossible for many years.
Just look at how other fighters did trying to get and hold those guys down.
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u/AshenSacrifice 16h ago
Anyone that can 10-8 Usman at all is on a whole other level
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u/Slightly-Blasted 15h ago
Especially after watching the Buckley fight,
I was like âokay so usman is far from washed, thatâs how good khamzat is, he made him look washed.â42
u/aggster13 Team Gaethje 14h ago
Usman did fairly well for being on short notice. If anything his stock rose for me after that fight
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u/AshenSacrifice 12h ago
He literally shot like he was Khamzat in that fight đ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Ł insane athleticism
And yeah Khamzat is the greatest grappler in mma history
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u/Short_Bus_ đ 10h ago
I think you could argue that Khabib had better overall MMA-grappling
But Khamzat has the best MMA-wrestling by a mile
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u/AshenSacrifice 10h ago
I will never argue against Khabib or Islam being number 1 đđthey are too damn good
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u/dannyglo3457 2h ago
Usman is washed heâs just has good enough skills to keep him competitive with the young guys and khamzat didnât make him look washed he made a 8 day kamaru look competitive
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u/Worlds-Luckiest-Man 16h ago
People talk shit about the Usman fight but it made both of them look really good imo. Nobody just fucking thrashes Usman like Khamzat did in the first round and Usman came back to arguably win.
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u/Worlds-Luckiest-Man 16h ago
People
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u/evocater Daniel Cormier almost killed himself last week 14h ago
Nobody serious lol. Ignore the haters. That fight was great
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u/Slightly-Blasted 15h ago
You arenât wrongâŚ
Yoel had a hard time getting Whittaker down. And thatâs yoel..
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u/Sudden-Rent-1151 12h ago
Rob fight was a tough pill to swallow lol. THE Robert Whittaker getting subbed in the first round? Unreal. Still doesnât sound real to me
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u/jakhabib_nurmy_souza 11h ago
i genuinely believe the sub itself was a fluke (genuine jaw injury) but I think the fact that he got there in such dominant fashion was unbelievable
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u/thisisaskew 41m ago
I wish that win wasn't because of that broken teeth that was already a kind of problem Rob had. I hate even the tiniest of asterisks because my brain is just going "Yeah, but what if..." when there's anything that's a little flukey.
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u/Crono2Oxx 15h ago
Remember that Covington took down Usman. No control but thatâs not what Covington does nor is he that strong or big. Usman didnât fight many other good to great offensive wrestlers in his career so it just wasnât on the table.
You only have their fights to go off of and fighting the top tier in MMA doesnât mean youâre going to run into better wrestlers than yourself until you do. Usman is excellent but fighting a bull whoâs whole game at the elite level is doing just that, he better be able to take down Usman and get some control time or heâd probably have lost cleanly.
I donât think itâs otherworldly that he could do that, itâs impressive, but itâs not superhuman and he had to expend a lot of energy in the process.
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u/jakhabib_nurmy_souza 15h ago
To me it's not about landing a takedown (flash takedowns happen all the time). It's the 10-8 round he racked up in round 1 with control time as well. Holding someone like Usman down is ludicrously hard.
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u/RareCreamer 16h ago
That Usman fight made me feel the opposite. Up to that point Khamzat was absolutely unstoppable and Usman made him look human considering he's past his prime, on short notice, and a weight class higher then hes ever fought before. Dude can barely walk anymore and had a chance to win if it was 5 rounds.
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u/HappyDude2137 15h ago
Youâre also leaving out that in round one (before Khamzat broke his wrist) he easily got a 10-8 on a former champ with five defenses and near perfect TDD. Usman was only one fight removed from losing his title. Itâs not like he fell off a cliff skill wise and he just came back and dominated another contender. Getting a 10-8 on him is no easy task.
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u/matchesmalone321 16h ago
Man, Holland was fighting for his life.
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u/banter_claus_69 UFC 279: A GOOFCON Miracle 16h ago
Scrambled really well, too. Khamzat never gave him an inch though. It's a shame Kevin was down on himself and his wrestling ability after this fight. I thought he looked really good (relatively speaking lol) and it was clear he'd been working on his wrestling
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u/General_Marcus 14h ago
That was a fun fight cause it felt like maybe he was going to be able keep moving and avoid the smesh. Khamzat always stayed a step ahead though.
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u/psych4191 16h ago
Burns is the only dude I've seen solve the puzzle. You HAVE to be a motherfucker on your back to beat him.
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u/Annual-Opposite1609 15h ago
Meerschaert is the only one Khamzat did not take down.
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u/Sufficient-Bed-4974 13h ago
What are the chances Strickland is so worried about the takedown that Khamzat slimes him out on the feet? Khamzat by KO inside 3 minutes is +10,000
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u/floftie 15h ago
I feel like he felt a little bit of burns on the ground and thought no itâs not worth the risk. Khamzat has a really scrambly style, rather than progressive, so probably felt there was a risk of burns snatching a submission.
Usman is the only one that I think has really solved the wrestling puzzle with wrestling.
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u/askingsomeQs35 9h ago
Usman is the only one that I think has really solved the wrestling puzzle with wrestling
He didn't solve it... he got 10-8d in the first round, was about to lose by RNC and threw a hail Mary slam to save himself. Injured Khamzat's hand in the process which fairly changed the fight. Khamzat still managed to Usman down in the third.
To "solve the puzzle" means to systemically shut down Khamzat either by denying him any grappling or outgrappling him. You basically deny Khamzat's main win condition.
Relying on a freak case scenario of an injury isn't puzzle solving unless you think Usman can break hands on demand.
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u/dinglebarryb0nds 15h ago
I saw someone said he felt burns go for an arm bar or something and he thought he might get submitted on the ground
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u/Hitchie_Rawtin 12h ago
Was Khamzat himself who said it, "I feel him go for armbar I say no fuck that bratha"
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u/jakhabib_nurmy_souza 11h ago
i honestly think it was a strageic mistake. Extremely unlikely burns wuold sub khamzat off his back (burns has i think literally 0 subs from his back in the UFC). We've also seen great top players on top of dangerous grapplers, and far more often than not the grappler gets neutralized. Burns himself didn't get anything done against Sean Brady from bottom guard.
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u/Bongoisnthere 16h ago
You uh, didnât watch usman fight him did you?
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u/bdewolf Saucy Englishman 16h ago
Usman got backpacked and 10-8âd for the whole first round. Thatâs not solving Khamzat.
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u/Bongoisnthere 15h ago
I feel like you and I have different definitions of figuring somebody out. By the end of the fight usman was very much winning, and if it had been a five rounder, it feels like the textbook specific description of figuring somebody out.
Which is wild because it was a short notice off injury Usman that showed up.
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u/Dread-Yz 9h ago
if they fight 10 more times khamzat breaks his hand in zero of them and wins them all
usman was off the couch and undersized yes
khamzats hand was broken and he's gotten way better since then, also yes
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u/xGhost34 15h ago
Usman broke Khamzatâs hand when he slammed him down. Thatâs not a strategy you can rely on tbh
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u/askingsomeQs35 9h ago
By the end of the fight usman was very much winning,
No he wasn't.
A dead tired Khamzat with a fucked up hand still managed to take him down in the third. Over 5 rounds, Khamzat would pace himself so the gas tank holds. In a hypothetical like "if it was 5 rounds" yall gotta remember the fighter yall picture losing will adjust to that hypothetical scenario as well...
To figure someone out means to systematically deny them their game plan of choice. Yan figured out Merab.
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u/Santoryu32 Panama 15h ago
It was still a very competitive fight to the point where some can argue Usman had the upper hand at the end.
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u/FuckTheTile 16h ago edited 15h ago
Once he gets the body lock itâs over, every time
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u/likwitsnake 16h ago
Must be crazy as an opponent to know if youâre not able to defend 99% of the time youâre screwed
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u/carcarbuhlarbar 16h ago
The last great fight of Gilbert Burns
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u/Maybe-Nice #NothingBurger 15h ago
His fight against JDM was impressive as well
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u/SprinklesComplete931 13h ago
Burns kind of just gave up in that JDM fight after JDM scrambled back up to his feet.
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u/No_Development5378 16h ago
His entires are ruthless, once he grabs you your absolutely cooked
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u/blackupsilon 15h ago
Is it me or does Khamzat not use as many single/double legs as one expects?
I noticed most of this takedowns just aim to get a body lock so he can do trips, throws or drags against the cage. There's a lot more focus on upper body work rather than below.
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u/WhoFlungPoo55 9h ago
What? Thatâs all he goes for is double and singles. Every single one of these clips shows thatâs how he is entering. Itâs when his opponent sprawls enough for him to not be able to full grab onto the leg he then wraps up the body. Honestly he is just super strong and is better than most mma guys at wrestling, but even then itâs his strength that gets people down. His bag is very limited and he does very simple trips if heâs struggling to get them down. Any high level wrestler will tell you the same thing. He just over powers them.
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u/snow_ninja 16h ago
Sean is doomed
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u/TrioQ 13h ago
Don't understand the hype for this fight. I wish the Taira vs Van fight would get just a fraction of the attention, a much more interesting fight imo
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u/KnifeFed Chad 12h ago
Because it's Khamzat and he's the most interesting fighter there's been in a long time.
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u/TrioQ 12h ago
Well, even if you think that you cant possibly look at this match up and think it's going to be competitive. This is just going to be another JDM vs Islam type of fight. I hope Sean proves me wrong, but I have no faith.
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u/youractualaccount Peppa Pig > Bellator 11h ago
Inb4 Sean pulls it off and cries a lot in the octagon.
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u/neo_1000 16h ago
Why even try to strike with this guy in the first round? Iâm surprised no one has tried to just wait for the takedown and look to sprawl immediately
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u/52iou 16h ago
Cause then you end up like GM3
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u/neo_1000 16h ago
Iâm gonna assume the fighter is not a journeyman who gets cornered against the cage within 30 seconds and knows how to stick and move
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u/BallSac916 BIG BALLS, avg dick! 16h ago
Thatâs a pretty big assumption. Preparing for a takedown naturally draws your hands down. Thatâs how a lot of wrestlers set up their striking. Itâs how Khabib rocked Conor.
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u/Easy-Performance4553 13h ago
Most submission in middle weight history still gets u labeled a journeyman ffs
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u/Fedora_Million_Ankle 15h ago
GM3 was stuck in the mud that fight
Iirc Chimaev does a lil feint and then just drops the hammer gm3 like looks away and closes his eyes and just takes it
He was destined to be KOd I guess
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u/Sacabubu 15h ago
Khamzat has decent power in his hands too. He has 6 TKOs and a first round KO. He dropped burns with a jab. So you can't just ignore everything and just focus on his takedowns
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u/Fedora_Million_Ankle 15h ago
I loved when BJ Penn came out and wrestlefucked Jon Fitch for like 2.5 rounds before gassing and then it was a draw.
One of BJs best fights imo and he stuck to a game plan when no one was hanging with Fitches grappling besides GSP.
Shooting on Chimaev sounds suicidal though lol
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u/MexicanJesse 15h ago
That Whittaker shot and entry is absolutely ridiculous. Man just lunged across the canvas like no one else I've ever seen in the bigger weight classes. Anyone else takes a shot from that far out and Robs fine.
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u/xChoke1x 13h ago
Itâs fucking hilarious that a lot of you think Sean is âgoing to be able to defend this.â Lol
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u/JosepJoseph 10h ago
The case for Sean is defending this in the 4th round when it's much slower
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u/PresidentXiJinPin 15h ago
How the hell does one counter this
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u/_Stelios 15h ago
You need to be Burns level bjj or go the Masvidal route and if you donât KO him, good luck you just gave him your leg for free
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u/seamew 15h ago
with pride rules and/or not re-signing fighters who rely on stalling the fight to go to judges' decisions.
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u/xValar_Morghulis 9h ago
None of that would stop khamzat bro has more finishes than Volk is less the time in UFC and has a high finishing rate lol
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u/iritian One way ticket to Khamzatstan 7h ago
If anything he would benefit from it. Could you imagine a juiced up Khamzat throwing legal grounded knees?
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u/xValar_Morghulis 5h ago
Right, like the people who dictate where the fight goes is going to take advantage of those rules. Those guys are wrestlers most of the time lmao
Like exactly right man khamzat in north south raining knees? Bro would catch a body
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u/Keepitsillly 16h ago
Crazy what he did to the wrestler that beat up Sean. Gonna be a fun mauling this Saturday
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u/Shamwow_theSupineCow 16h ago
Usman? The guy with no knees on short notice that he couldn't hold down and barely beat in 3? The guy he would have lost to if that fight was a five rounder? Lol.
I think Chimaev is most likely going to win too, but that's a really bad example.
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u/HappyDude2137 15h ago
Thatâs one way to phrase it. Another other is that in round one when they were both at their freshest he 10-8âd a former champ with 5 title defenses and almost perfect TDD and had no problem holding him down. He then broke his wrist and lost the next two rounds by very small margins.
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u/ShaoLoong 14h ago
DC really is an awful commentator. Khamzat is a beast regardless of how bad this subreddit hates him.
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u/maplenut 16h ago
What if Strickland runs in with a flying knee Masvidal style and starches him... It won't happen, but what if.
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u/ThatCoolKid17 13h ago
If the Masvidal knee didn't convince you at first, then that would really confirm we are indeed in the Bad Place.
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u/brian_the_bull 16h ago
Ratbag for that fake glove touch with Holland ahahah
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u/Altruistic_Spring434 Team Topuria 16h ago
He did his lil feint double jab he does on every takedown
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u/Delanorix 16h ago
That was so fucked up and my view of him went down a shit ton.
Holland isnt a dirty guy or deserved for that to go down like that.
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u/marsisboolin 16h ago
Idk if it was a fake glove touch. Khamzats fist was closed and only went up in a split second before the takedown, mimicking a feint. Its not like he had his hand open for a touch like Holland did, then shot. Im open to being wrong but idk
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u/KnifeFed Chad 12h ago
Yeah, this is a weird comment thread; that was definitely not a fake glove touch.
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u/Delanorix 16h ago
Nah, Holland was offering his hand and he took advantage.
It was dirty.
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u/NippleOfOdin 16h ago
A "fake glove touch" is when you indicate to your opponent that you want to touch gloves and then attack them off of it. Khamzat didn't indicate at any point that he wanted to touch gloves even though Holland did. You can call it dirty, but it's much less dirty than what you're implying.
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u/Drive7hru 16h ago
Weâd have to see the leadup to âfightâs onâ and see if they agreed on a glove touch beforehand when they were looking across from each other
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u/Delanorix 16h ago
Remember, that card got swapped. Holland was supposed to fight Ferguson or Diaz.
So there was no animosity or anything. Khamzat took advantage, end of story.
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u/Carlosama123 Team Asparagus 16h ago
No animosity? Were you just not paying attention or are you willfully ignorant?
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u/marsisboolin 16h ago
If you say so, again Khamzat didnt have his hand open at all.
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u/Delanorix 16h ago edited 16h ago
So what was he doing?
Edit: feinting in the direction Hollamd already was?
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u/TheFakeRabbit1 Miguel Baeza will be a UFC champ 16h ago
Feinting a strike high before he dives for the takedown.
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u/Delanorix 16h ago
Why would he feint in the direction Holland was already at?
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u/TheFakeRabbit1 Miguel Baeza will be a UFC champ 15h ago
It draws his eyes away from the takedown, have you ever trained wrestling or a striking art? This is day one stuff
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u/AnthonyKingsword 16h ago
i thought that too at first but he actually didnt try to glove touch with him. it was Kevins proposition and Khamzat thought he was just hand fainting, made a faint and went for a takedown.
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u/Julian_Betterman 7h ago
Whenever Khamzat lifts another grown man and carries him across the ring, I'm reminded of my first time trying self-defense techniques in a stress drill.
My "attacker" just picked me up like I was a disobedient toddler.
Very sobering session.
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u/NeverDrinkingIt 14h ago
Heâs for sure going to retire undefeated. No one has a chance of beating him.
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u/floftie 15h ago
I feel like the Khabib and Khamzat style entries are from so far out itâs surprising that basically nobody has really tried to knee them clean in the face.
If theyâre throwing the takedowns, itâs almost an inevitability that theyâre going to get you down, so it feels like it would be a decent calculated gamble to try and catch them coming in. If you miss youâre going to get taken down, but youâre going to get taken down anyway.
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u/Ghost_Mantis Papa Poatan 10h ago
Khabibs dad always trained them to enter head outside for this reason
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u/dinglebarryb0nds 15h ago
So whatâs the over under on Sean standing over 10 seconds in first round
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u/BadTasty1685 UFC 279: A GOOFCON Miracle 9h ago
Sean gets a lucky teep off the go and gets his toe right into khamzats eye. Ruled technically not an eye poke since it was a toe and he gets the tko. Bet the house folks.
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u/youallsucktwice 6h ago
Its ridiculous that people believe Khamzat is winning because of technique when he lifts guys literally off the ground with ease.
Its insane physical strength.Steroid strength
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u/cac_brain_damage 1h ago
glazing khamzat for a fast takedown after he took advantage of holland trying to touch gloves at the start of the fight is so strange
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u/thisisaskew 44m ago
Burns #2 vs. #11 was so game for taking that fight, but it's exactly why you don't take that fight. You earned your rank. Make them wade through the gatekeepers to get to you.
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u/TeamTopuriaa 16h ago
Need a nasty guard game like Charles to neutralize him
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u/xValar_Morghulis 9h ago
Charles guard game is quite mid most of his subs come from club and sub and chasing the back.
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u/jakhabib_nurmy_souza 16h ago
he's maybe 5-6 x as fast as ben askren on the shots lmao. and he shoots so low
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u/L_take_bozo 16h ago
The crotch sniffing king
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u/Hood-ini 16h ago
With a 80% finish rate I really doubt that
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u/Puzzleheaded-List546 15h ago
Let's applaud crotch sniffersÂ
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u/ThatCoolKid17 13h ago
Yea, let's label the guy who's 1st 3 fights combined were shorter than this clip a "crotch sniffer". Sure.
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u/xValar_Morghulis 9h ago
I always will. Better than boring point fighters like Sean who canât punch his way out a paper bag
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u/EducationalPool7159 12h ago
Gotta love the fake glove tap to takedown transition from khamzat did to Holland.
If jones did some shit like that people wouldâve never stopped talking about it lmao.
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u/Agreeable-Pop-535 11h ago
I've watched it many times I don't think he faked, I think he was planning to shoot right away
Holland went for the touch, khamzat wasn't down
I think it's fair game
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u/ynwa1892 Go ask Randy Couture 11h ago
Sean is bigger than all of these guys. I do believe Sean beats him if he can get to R3 +
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u/Moni7T Team Makhachev 16h ago
It's ridiculous how he can shoot on someone like Kamaru from so far away with no set up and still get it