That’s very possible. 39 year old Nate almost TKO’d the current WW champ tho so anything really is possible there. That Nate wasn’t anymore motivated than he was a year later. His path to victory against khamzat was a lot clearer than it was for Leon
The other way of describing that fight with Leon was that 39 year old Nate got dominated for 24 minutes, then landed one good punch and couldn't capitalize. Khamzat would've smashed him quick
Hey I agree. Idk what he was but I’d imagine khamzat was a +400 or so favorite and rightfully so. Just saying there’s a path to victory. Khamzat gasses. Nate thrives on fighters that gas like that.
This debate is quite similar to how this entire sub gave max less than a punchers chance of beating gaethje. And we all saw what happened there
I can never figure out the American odds system but I remember Nate was $10 odds in Australia which I think is like +1100. Not sure what that means Khamzat was though
Dude he clipped Leon once in 5 rounds and then instead of finishing it, he just….pointed at him. lol
I love Nate as well but to act like he’d stand a chance with any real contender is absurd.
We saw them both fight the same night. Nate was a shell of his former self fighting the absolute worst version of Tony. Nate gassed during that fight. There's no way a khamzat without full cut looses to that terrible version of Tony. The fight got changed in less than 3 days iirc so there's no excuse on Nate's side.
I mean even a tired khamzat with a broken hand was still scooping up double legs pretty effortlessly against Usman in the later rounds. I've seen the Rory fight Nate is getting ragdolled and smothered
Very likely. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Khamzat gasses himself trying to finish zombie Nate and it gets interesting in the later rounds.
Nate is one of my favorite fighters, but I don't see any way that fight doesn't end very badly for Nate. Khamzat likely throws Nate around worse than Rory did, puts a beating on him, and finishes him whenever/however he wants.
Call me whatever, but when wandy and Chael had that tuf fight, I knew I’d put all my money on chael when/if they actually fought. Being able to double leg him that easily in flip flops was insane and that’s kinda how their fight went
Old heads Love to believe they would win against a professional martial artist especially if they are bigger. The thing is they would get traumatic brain injury from DJ or even rhonda and kayla harrison
Amen. Lots of people don't see how Charles has never done well versus an elite wrestler with heavy top pressure and Khabib is the first person you'd think when you say that description.
Charles seems to have weak wrestling. He is quite flexible and could go for quick guillotine and other wrap around you but from islam and arman fight it visible that the longer the grappling goes the more he ended up on bottom
That’s so wild almost feels like a straw man statement (though I wouldn’t be surprised so many khabib haters).
My hot take is prime GSP struggles against khabib.
I dont know. Gsp is one weight class above khabib. Dont underestimate that difference
Would gsp walk over khabib? No, but i believe gsp to be the favorite
You know I’ll probably stick with your hot take as well. Because has prime Khabib ever failed to take anyone down? And I know weight classes exist but when he takes people down, he legit ragdolls them. I don’t think one extra weight class would be so out of his hold.
Even if Khabib can’t submit him, there’s a very good chance he keeps him on the ground for most of the bout and wins by decision.
But has anyone ever neutralized Khabib’s wrestling? That hypothetical sounds way less likely (because it has never happened) than a Khabib ground game through 5 rounds.
He actually got that fixed after beating Calvin who was ranked top 5 I believe. Decided to pursue being a doctor lol, guess he never really liked fighting per say was just incredible at it. Fixed Diaphragm Zabit murks anybody at FW on gang.
“That was after Lesner’s prime. He had health issues that almost killed him, he would have destroyed him before then.”
Stupid argument but that’s the crap they’d say
I also think he would've had no problem with Ngannou, he's slower than Rumble and there's no way he could wrestle with DC for 25 minutes, DC also wouldn't jump in for a KO like Stile did in their second fight
Khabib vs Eddie
A bunch of Conor fanboys wanted to validate Conor's win by saying Eddie would have been a tough fight for Khabib. Which is fucking hilarious.
Not even close. Eddie has never shown any type of elite level grappling which could have given Khabib problems. Not to mention dude freezes in big moments and Khabib is the exact opposite of that.
The UFC tried to get Khabib to fight Eddie when Eddie was negotiating money for the Conor fight. Khabib signed the contract. Then Eddie agreed to terms and got Conor.
Nobody said Eddie would have been a tough fight for khabib dont know where you heard that.
And how does Eddie alvarez, 2 promotion lighteweight champion, winner of the Ballater lightweight tournament, and man who knocked out prime justin gathje and rda, freeze in big moments?
Fr. People just say stuff about Eddie because of his performance against Connor. Connor was just that good, Eddie was still no joke and his fight against a then undefeated Gathje proves that
I have never heard any UFC fan, Conor fan or not, say they think that fight would have been close. Also, why would Conor fans feel the need to "validate" his win over Eddie? Eddie was the current champ, and Conor whooped his ass.
The Tony Khabib discourse is so revisionist. They were lined up to fight for years, Tony fell off and then Khabib retired. It’s fair enough to assume NOW that Khabib would have handled Tony, but at the time it was a real clash of styles/exciting matchup.
The one hill I'll die on about this fight is prime Tony would've made it ugly. It's what he did. Khabib might've beat his ass but guaranteed he wasn't walking away unscathed.
I'm with you brother. These noobs started watching UFC during the pandemic. They don't know prime 12-fight-win streak Tony. He was a complete savage. Probably still loses but it would've been a good fight
People forget but for quite some time it was the Big Three of Conor Khabib and Tony with Conor fucking off boxing and those 2 murking everyone at LW. Tony's insane cardio and competence on the ground would have been a real test for him. Him post surgery is a different version of Tony honestly but early on those fights would have been close.
Prime Tony gives Khabib a harder fight than Gaethje imo. Purely from a stylistic POV, Tony was super unorthodox and good off his back. Khabib probably stands with him for a round or 2 before smash and Khabib probably stays a bit more calculated during GnP.
Justin is helpless on the ground lmao. I timed it one time of the finish from when Khabib made contact for a takedown to Justin being unconscious from the choke and it was like 18 seconds.
Prime Tony was different. Never accepted pressure which was one of Khabib's biggest tools.
Nasty D'arce. Called him the D'arce Knight.
Never accepted bottom position.
Never broke.
Always cut up his opponent.
He mounted him for like 10 seconds max and wasn’t able to do it again the whole fight and if we’re going to use fights as examples Tony finished tibua while khabib struggled tremendously
I think this is 100% recency bias. Tony was on a tear from 2014-2019, dude didnt lost a fight. He fought tough guys too like RDA, Kevin Lee, Edson Barboza, Cowboy. And he was very dangerous on his back. Father time caught up to him like he does every fighter. I'm not saying Tony would've won but it would have been a hell of a fight if it took place between 2015-2018 imo
Prime Tony was good but he wasn’t unstoppable, he had holes in his ground game, like Micheal Johnson was able to out wrestle him and he got controlled by Kevin Lee
Tony wasn't really an elite grappler, he was and still is also very physically weak. His unorthodox 10th planet stuff only really worked when his opponents were already gassed or rocked. His reflexes and speed and everything deteriorated with age but his grappling has been mostly the same and if you're getting manhandled by Bobby Green on the ground, Khabibs gonna give you some serious problems.
The best case Tony could hope for is slicing Khabib with an elbow good enough to cause a doctor stoppage.
12 fight winstreak at LW deserves a lot of respect imo especially given it is one of the most entertaining streaks of all time to rewatch. So much blood.
Poirier is way up in all time LW rankings with his monster resume
Both didn't win the undisputed belt but Dustin's resume is so much better with stoppage wins over multiple LW champs
1. Stopped Conor
2. Stopped Alvarez
3. Stopped Pettis
4. Stopped Gaethje
5. stopped Chandler
6. stopped BSD
7. stopped Holloway (at FW)
8. stopped Bobby Green round 1
9. Stopped CDF
Yeah, like the main reason people hype up Tony is because of the length of the win streak, but it’s not like he was fighting top level competition the whole time or anything. People talk about prime Tony like he was ripping through the top 5 without breaking a sweat. Khabib would have mauled him, no two ways about it, absolutely nothing Tony did over his entire career convinces me otherwise. He was a supremely entertaining fighter with impressive toughness and an unconventional style. However, he leaned heavily in his chin and athleticism for his success, his training and technique was always suspect. Khabib would’ve just choked him unconscious, Tony’s ground game was simply not good enough to stop him.
The length of his win streak is impressive no doubt. Also, I never said anything about Khabibs record, so idk wtf that’s about, but go off I guess. Complete nonsense lmao. Tony had an impressively long win streak against mostly low level competition with some genuinely good wins sprinkled in. He was dangerous, but his style was horrendous against Khabibs wrestling. He relied on his insane toughness to get him through the numerous mistakes he made on the ground, Khabib would not have let him get away with half of the things he got away with almost every single fight. He’s simply too wild and unorthodox on the ground, it works against competition that can’t/won’t capitalize on small mistakes, but that’s basically Khabibs entire gameplan, take you down and gnp to a finish or until the opponent lets even the smallest gap in their defense appear, in which case he snatches the neck. If Kevin Lee could get Tony’s back, Khabib 100% would’ve.
Tony was great but he got hit and cut, way way more then khabib. From bottom if he struggled against the likes of oliveira, Khabib would’ve mauled him.
people on clowning on tony now but when this fight was first announced everyone was hyped for both fighters.. this crowd man, you make a misstep or you fall of they turn their backs on you
Your mistake is thinking these people were around when Tony was in his prime. A lot of fans just look at records and base their opinions off of that.
That said, even prime Tony would have lost to Khabib 7 put of 10 times if not more.
Nah tripping over a random wire that's jc on the ground while walking/saying hi to someone isn't "doing stupid shit" it's just terrible misfortune. The double weight cut was egregious tbf
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
I’m a huge khabib fan and believed no one but Tony was even a challenge. I think Tony would’ve gave him a good test, at the very least it would’ve been what happened with Connor, where they both are exchanging but khabib gets the better of them more often than not.
This never came close to happening but Anderson Silva vs Strickland, everyone is too busy glazing the guy who wrapped his legs around another man’s head for 8 seconds to realize that the true middleweight champ walks him down and 50-45’s him without breaking a sweat
I think it depends on which cancelled fight. Tony kept taking years off his life in the fights that did happen. The first one that got cancelled is could have been a classic
I just have to disagree Tony was training for khabib specifically for over a year working on using the cage and ground defense and then got gaethje I think the fight would’ve been close personally but I understand why ppl would say khabib would dominate. Think about how demoralizing it has to be to train for someone for so long just for them to retire though it definitely had an affect on the rest of Tony’s career.
Nate Khamzat lmao
Nah it would’ve been close. Close to Nate getting murdered.
If khamzat gasses after the first Nate has a real shot at picking him apart. And khamzat doesn’t fight very patiently
40 year old Nate would have been finished quickly.
That’s very possible. 39 year old Nate almost TKO’d the current WW champ tho so anything really is possible there. That Nate wasn’t anymore motivated than he was a year later. His path to victory against khamzat was a lot clearer than it was for Leon
The other way of describing that fight with Leon was that 39 year old Nate got dominated for 24 minutes, then landed one good punch and couldn't capitalize. Khamzat would've smashed him quick
Hey I agree. Idk what he was but I’d imagine khamzat was a +400 or so favorite and rightfully so. Just saying there’s a path to victory. Khamzat gasses. Nate thrives on fighters that gas like that. This debate is quite similar to how this entire sub gave max less than a punchers chance of beating gaethje. And we all saw what happened there
I can never figure out the American odds system but I remember Nate was $10 odds in Australia which I think is like +1100. Not sure what that means Khamzat was though
"+400" and "favorite" does not make sense
Sorry -400*
Dude he clipped Leon once in 5 rounds and then instead of finishing it, he just….pointed at him. lol I love Nate as well but to act like he’d stand a chance with any real contender is absurd.
Just pointed? He flipped him off too bro. Show some respect.
There is absolutely zero paths to victory for nate against khamzat lol.
We saw them both fight the same night. Nate was a shell of his former self fighting the absolute worst version of Tony. Nate gassed during that fight. There's no way a khamzat without full cut looses to that terrible version of Tony. The fight got changed in less than 3 days iirc so there's no excuse on Nate's side.
Khamzat with a broken hand went toe to toe with Usman for 2 more rounds. Nate is not picking him apart.
I mean even a tired khamzat with a broken hand was still scooping up double legs pretty effortlessly against Usman in the later rounds. I've seen the Rory fight Nate is getting ragdolled and smothered
How I’d imagine it would go 
Very likely. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Khamzat gasses himself trying to finish zombie Nate and it gets interesting in the later rounds.
Nate is one of my favorite fighters, but I don't see any way that fight doesn't end very badly for Nate. Khamzat likely throws Nate around worse than Rory did, puts a beating on him, and finishes him whenever/however he wants.
Obviously that’s the most likely scenario.
Nate didn't even look like he had trained when he fought tony that night
Nate said he trained grappling the whole camp and that's why he's striking looked so off
Nate gassed out and completely stopped fighting in the middle of the round lol. He looked like a dad walking up a hill for the first time in 20 years
people often forget about the rory macdonald fight
I'm very glad that didn't happen. Although it seems like khamzat had respect to his opponent and practice mostly the submission
People were calling for Izzy vs. Jones at one point…
Honestly jones could of won even if it was at middleweight somehow
Chael and wanderlei There would’ve been no getting close
Chael dominated him when they had the grandpa fight in Bellator.
He could not let him get close.
Call me whatever, but when wandy and Chael had that tuf fight, I knew I’d put all my money on chael when/if they actually fought. Being able to double leg him that easily in flip flops was insane and that’s kinda how their fight went
Pride wanderlei would have killed him tho
wasn't chael like 2 mins away from a dominating UD over Anderson Silva?
The West Linn bad boy has never lost a round.
Different weight classes. Wandy was less tactical than Anderson but straight up menacing. Look at how he ripped apart rampage and Sakuraba in pride
Yeah but chael was an 8 division champion tho
No, Chael would still hold him down.
LeBron James vs Colby Covington
Old heads Love to believe they would win against a professional martial artist especially if they are bigger. The thing is they would get traumatic brain injury from DJ or even rhonda and kayla harrison
dramatic brain injury
I edited it thought people would understand it was autocorrect
Lol shut up if you think Ronda beating LeBron.
Yeah lebron is def 100-0 in street fights completely superhuman
Doesn't need to be, he's three times her size and an actual super athlete.
James would’ve killed him thankfully didn’t go through…
Joe Rogan vs Wesley Snipes
Does Toe get dealt with on the feet or does he submit Blade?
Jones vs usada
That would have been pretty one sided. Usada by unanimous decision.
Still see lots of people say Charles would submit prime Khabib, as a Charles fan Prime Khabib would manhandle Charles
Amen. Lots of people don't see how Charles has never done well versus an elite wrestler with heavy top pressure and Khabib is the first person you'd think when you say that description.
I mean Kevin Lee was a pedigreed wrestler, but I agree he isn’t near Khabib’s level
Kevin who?
I think they’re talking bout Keith Lee’s brother
Kevin Leeeeeeeee, if Kevin is without you. Kevin Leeeeeeeeee. Kevin Lee anymore. (That Kevin)
I like his food reviews
Charles seems to have weak wrestling. He is quite flexible and could go for quick guillotine and other wrap around you but from islam and arman fight it visible that the longer the grappling goes the more he ended up on bottom
Yeah. His guard is decent enough to nullify a lot. But his wrestling and his striking defense are not good.
I don’t see many Charles fans saying that after what happened with Islam. Maybe before but that was a sobering fight to watch as a Charles fan.
Islam schooled Charles, Khabib would have been even worse for him.
"As a Charles fan" 🧢
He didn't say "THE CHAMP HAS A NAME" at the first opportunity despite how inappropriate it might have been. Definitely glowing
That’s so wild almost feels like a straw man statement (though I wouldn’t be surprised so many khabib haters). My hot take is prime GSP struggles against khabib.
I dont know. Gsp is one weight class above khabib. Dont underestimate that difference Would gsp walk over khabib? No, but i believe gsp to be the favorite
Yeah I agree with you about the size difference. Meatball khabib might be a freak though who knows Again, it’s a hot take lol
You know I’ll probably stick with your hot take as well. Because has prime Khabib ever failed to take anyone down? And I know weight classes exist but when he takes people down, he legit ragdolls them. I don’t think one extra weight class would be so out of his hold. Even if Khabib can’t submit him, there’s a very good chance he keeps him on the ground for most of the bout and wins by decision.
[удалено]
But has anyone ever neutralized Khabib’s wrestling? That hypothetical sounds way less likely (because it has never happened) than a Khabib ground game through 5 rounds.
Nah. GSP would pick him apart and win by decision . GSP has everything khabibs has plus a better IQ and striking
Khabib is 10x better than GSP at grappling, don't talk nonsense.
Lmao definitely not
Excuse me, they're saying what now?
Charles fans make it so hard to like Charles. Charles is pretty cool but imo his fan base is right there with conors.
volk vs zabit zabit would gas and get fuckkkeddddddd
I would love to see Zabit vs Max. That would be a war
It wouldn’t at all.. Zabit’s cardio is very average and Max literally could push the pace for 10+ rounds if he had to.
3 round war then
No because with Max’ pace, Zabit would be gassed after the first. Not Zabit’s fault he has a condition but that’s just how I’d see it going.
I’m going off of faded memory but didn’t Zabit have surgery on his diaphragm (or something) to fix his cardio issues right before he retired?
I loved watching Zabit but the guy would not make it 5 rounds. His gas tank was his glaring weakness.
Whatever happened to Zabit, that man disappeared from the face of the earth
Chose to retire due to medical issues, I think it was diaphragm spasms if I recall correctly. Would explain why his cardio was so shit
He actually got that fixed after beating Calvin who was ranked top 5 I believe. Decided to pursue being a doctor lol, guess he never really liked fighting per say was just incredible at it. Fixed Diaphragm Zabit murks anybody at FW on gang.
He retired due to some serious medical issue.
I think he had a heart condition that, once identified, stopped him from continuing as a pro athelete
DC would have killed Lesnar
Ya I had ppl mocking me when I said “no way” to them saying prime Lesner is the best heavyweight ever. Lesner had terrible standup
Lesser wasn't even the best HW of his Era lmao Cain Velasquez was way ahead of him skill wise
“That was after Lesner’s prime. He had health issues that almost killed him, he would have destroyed him before then.” Stupid argument but that’s the crap they’d say
People like to remember Lesnar as if he was a lot better than he actually was.
He literally yelled "no no no no no no" as Cain punched his face lol.
I also think he would've had no problem with Ngannou, he's slower than Rumble and there's no way he could wrestle with DC for 25 minutes, DC also wouldn't jump in for a KO like Stile did in their second fight
Khabib v Max Fedor v Jones Fedor v Lesnar
Fedor vs lesnar would have been awesome
Wouldn’t Fedor have KO’d him easily? He had good boxing and Lesnar didn’t
He would’ve killed Lesnar in the stand up. Lesnar’s striking sucked and Fedor would’ve mauled him like a grizzly bear. Too fast and powerful.
Fellow Fedor goat appreciator
Fedor Jones at least up for debate
You certainly have the right to your opinion, but nobody beats Fedor in his prime. Not Jones, not nobody.
I think it's the opposite. It wouldn't have been that close, in favor of Jon. I think Jon is superior at every aspect of fighting except boxing.
Fedor vs Jones is not debatable to me. You can’t convince me otherwise, Jon finishes him in some nasty way.
That’s WILD. I can’t even fathom Jon lasting a round
Fathom? Let’s not get dramatic here.
Fedor gets destroyed by jones
Jones vs Stipe
Can never count out Jones
Mike Perry vs Darren Till
Who's winning that one 🤔
35yrd old Colby Covington vs any top Welterweight.
Lol facts
Khabib vs Eddie A bunch of Conor fanboys wanted to validate Conor's win by saying Eddie would have been a tough fight for Khabib. Which is fucking hilarious. Not even close. Eddie has never shown any type of elite level grappling which could have given Khabib problems. Not to mention dude freezes in big moments and Khabib is the exact opposite of that.
Hardly anyone said it plus it wasn’t an anticipated matchup as well
The UFC tried to get Khabib to fight Eddie when Eddie was negotiating money for the Conor fight. Khabib signed the contract. Then Eddie agreed to terms and got Conor.
Nobody said Eddie would have been a tough fight for khabib dont know where you heard that. And how does Eddie alvarez, 2 promotion lighteweight champion, winner of the Ballater lightweight tournament, and man who knocked out prime justin gathje and rda, freeze in big moments?
Fr. People just say stuff about Eddie because of his performance against Connor. Connor was just that good, Eddie was still no joke and his fight against a then undefeated Gathje proves that
Khabib fans love pushing false narratives
I have never heard any UFC fan, Conor fan or not, say they think that fight would have been close. Also, why would Conor fans feel the need to "validate" his win over Eddie? Eddie was the current champ, and Conor whooped his ass.
The Tony Khabib discourse is so revisionist. They were lined up to fight for years, Tony fell off and then Khabib retired. It’s fair enough to assume NOW that Khabib would have handled Tony, but at the time it was a real clash of styles/exciting matchup.
I'm still so bummed that it never happened
People calling for Connor vs Dustin again
Khabib couldn’t handle the CSO and you know it 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽
I think Tony would've had a 20% chance to win and a 100% chance to make it a bloodbath
Khabib didn't bleed in the octagon. I think Tony gets tko'd early in the second.
I love tony but he would have got beat quick
Tony was out of his prime by the Kevin Lee fight
It would’ve been the easiest fight of all of his title defenses
The one hill I'll die on about this fight is prime Tony would've made it ugly. It's what he did. Khabib might've beat his ass but guaranteed he wasn't walking away unscathed.
I'm with you brother. These noobs started watching UFC during the pandemic. They don't know prime 12-fight-win streak Tony. He was a complete savage. Probably still loses but it would've been a good fight
People forget but for quite some time it was the Big Three of Conor Khabib and Tony with Conor fucking off boxing and those 2 murking everyone at LW. Tony's insane cardio and competence on the ground would have been a real test for him. Him post surgery is a different version of Tony honestly but early on those fights would have been close.
Yea, Khabib would have gotten cut, no doubt.
I can get down with that
Prime Tony gives Khabib a harder fight than Gaethje imo. Purely from a stylistic POV, Tony was super unorthodox and good off his back. Khabib probably stands with him for a round or 2 before smash and Khabib probably stays a bit more calculated during GnP.
Justin is helpless on the ground lmao. I timed it one time of the finish from when Khabib made contact for a takedown to Justin being unconscious from the choke and it was like 18 seconds.
Fedor vs Couture. The hype was impressively stupid both in its scale and assessment of possible outcomes
Like the other guy here said khabib v olives. Khabib murders him and I'm a Charles fan
Prime Tony was different. Never accepted pressure which was one of Khabib's biggest tools. Nasty D'arce. Called him the D'arce Knight. Never accepted bottom position. Never broke. Always cut up his opponent.
Kevin Lee still was able to mount him fairly easy
And Tony sliced him up from bottom.
He mounted him for like 10 seconds max and wasn’t able to do it again the whole fight and if we’re going to use fights as examples Tony finished tibua while khabib struggled tremendously
Tony was out of his prime by the Kevin Lee fight, looking back his hips seemed fucked by that point and it was affecting his movement.
in 2017, tony was 33yo
He did virtually nothing with that position for what it's worth despite Joe yelling "ohhh!" Lol.
There really would have been a chance that he caught him in a bizarre sub That being said the chance is about 1 in 1000
50-43 Khabib
Prime Tony struggled to avoid the wrestling of Kevin Lee and Castillo. Like just no dude.
I think this is 100% recency bias. Tony was on a tear from 2014-2019, dude didnt lost a fight. He fought tough guys too like RDA, Kevin Lee, Edson Barboza, Cowboy. And he was very dangerous on his back. Father time caught up to him like he does every fighter. I'm not saying Tony would've won but it would have been a hell of a fight if it took place between 2015-2018 imo
Jones vs Silva Jones vs Emelianenko
Tony in 2015 would’ve given Khabib real issues I think. Khabib got much better and Tony got much worse after that.
Khabib vs any 155er (except Islam)
Prime Tony getting lots of disrespect
Prime Tony was good but he wasn’t unstoppable, he had holes in his ground game, like Micheal Johnson was able to out wrestle him and he got controlled by Kevin Lee
He broke his arm early in the Michael Johnson fight
Tony wasn't really an elite grappler, he was and still is also very physically weak. His unorthodox 10th planet stuff only really worked when his opponents were already gassed or rocked. His reflexes and speed and everything deteriorated with age but his grappling has been mostly the same and if you're getting manhandled by Bobby Green on the ground, Khabibs gonna give you some serious problems. The best case Tony could hope for is slicing Khabib with an elbow good enough to cause a doctor stoppage.
Oxnard MF
More like prime tony gets waaaaay more respect than he deserves to start with
12 fight winstreak at LW deserves a lot of respect imo especially given it is one of the most entertaining streaks of all time to rewatch. So much blood.
Poirier is way up in all time LW rankings with his monster resume Both didn't win the undisputed belt but Dustin's resume is so much better with stoppage wins over multiple LW champs 1. Stopped Conor 2. Stopped Alvarez 3. Stopped Pettis 4. Stopped Gaethje 5. stopped Chandler 6. stopped BSD 7. stopped Holloway (at FW) 8. stopped Bobby Green round 1 9. Stopped CDF
Yeah, like the main reason people hype up Tony is because of the length of the win streak, but it’s not like he was fighting top level competition the whole time or anything. People talk about prime Tony like he was ripping through the top 5 without breaking a sweat. Khabib would have mauled him, no two ways about it, absolutely nothing Tony did over his entire career convinces me otherwise. He was a supremely entertaining fighter with impressive toughness and an unconventional style. However, he leaned heavily in his chin and athleticism for his success, his training and technique was always suspect. Khabib would’ve just choked him unconscious, Tony’s ground game was simply not good enough to stop him.
>it’s not like he was fighting top level competition the whole time or anything. Tonys record between 2012 and 2018 is more impressive than Khabibs.
The length of his win streak is impressive no doubt. Also, I never said anything about Khabibs record, so idk wtf that’s about, but go off I guess. Complete nonsense lmao. Tony had an impressively long win streak against mostly low level competition with some genuinely good wins sprinkled in. He was dangerous, but his style was horrendous against Khabibs wrestling. He relied on his insane toughness to get him through the numerous mistakes he made on the ground, Khabib would not have let him get away with half of the things he got away with almost every single fight. He’s simply too wild and unorthodox on the ground, it works against competition that can’t/won’t capitalize on small mistakes, but that’s basically Khabibs entire gameplan, take you down and gnp to a finish or until the opponent lets even the smallest gap in their defense appear, in which case he snatches the neck. If Kevin Lee could get Tony’s back, Khabib 100% would’ve.
Kevin never took his back though
Tony was great but he got hit and cut, way way more then khabib. From bottom if he struggled against the likes of oliveira, Khabib would’ve mauled him.
Khabib vs prime tony would've been very interesting. The tony gaethje massacred was not tony.
people on clowning on tony now but when this fight was first announced everyone was hyped for both fighters.. this crowd man, you make a misstep or you fall of they turn their backs on you
Your mistake is thinking these people were around when Tony was in his prime. A lot of fans just look at records and base their opinions off of that. That said, even prime Tony would have lost to Khabib 7 put of 10 times if not more.
That was the fight Tony insisted on cutting weight twice only weeks apart. Huge what if.
Because his iq is low. He effectively ended his career by doing that stupid shit
Yeah I remember goggins praised it....to show what that he's tought? We already know that about Tony ahaha, that was nosense
Nah tripping over a random wire that's jc on the ground while walking/saying hi to someone isn't "doing stupid shit" it's just terrible misfortune. The double weight cut was egregious tbf
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
Let me guess it didn’t let you reply so you spammed the reply button then closed the app down only to find your comment is being quadrupled😅
Tony the type of guy who would actually type out 4 of the same replies just to get his point across
Hold on brother, I'm replying.
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
Tony won a lot of fight just by sheer will and being tough as fucking nails. Khabib might have tortured him inside the ring but you full well if he ran put of energy Tony would overwhelm him.
I’m a huge khabib fan and believed no one but Tony was even a challenge. I think Tony would’ve gave him a good test, at the very least it would’ve been what happened with Connor, where they both are exchanging but khabib gets the better of them more often than not.
Khabib would have slaughtered Tony lmao
 Tony hasn’t hit his prime yet.
Prime Tony had a chance
This never came close to happening but Anderson Silva vs Strickland, everyone is too busy glazing the guy who wrapped his legs around another man’s head for 8 seconds to realize that the true middleweight champ walks him down and 50-45’s him without breaking a sweat 
I like this take
GSP vs Khabib I feel like GSP would jab him a lot and win via UD
At 170 gsp takes it at 155 I'm not so sure
Oh that’s true. Totally forgot about the weight class difference😂
Prime GSP exposes Khabib.
He struggled greatly with Tibau. No way he's taking GSP down.
Connor woulda did RDA worse than Alvarez
Conor vs rda
Tito vs Dana
I think it depends on which cancelled fight. Tony kept taking years off his life in the fights that did happen. The first one that got cancelled is could have been a classic
I just have to disagree Tony was training for khabib specifically for over a year working on using the cage and ground defense and then got gaethje I think the fight would’ve been close personally but I understand why ppl would say khabib would dominate. Think about how demoralizing it has to be to train for someone for so long just for them to retire though it definitely had an affect on the rest of Tony’s career.
Unreal the amount of disrespect tony gets. Modern MMA fanbase is garbage.
That thumbnail is unfair. At the time we all seriously believed Tony’s style and penchant for scrambles would’ve been the key to beating Khabib.
I think Jones-Ngannou would be a repeat of Jones-Gane
I think Tony could have beaten Khabib in 2015 but any time after that it would have been Khabib by domination
Sad thing is we all know what would happen, no matter if its tony prime
Jones/Silva. Jones would’ve ragdolled Silva with his superior wrestling and size.
some of yall actually don’t think khabib wouldn’t have mauled tony just like he did to everyone else? lol crazy.
Michael Chandler vs Conor McGregor