GSP had a very good double leg, I believe all of the times Khabib was taken down in the UFC (I believe by Tibau and Abel Trujillo) it was by double leg. They both have great jabs but I don’t think anyone has demonstrated Khabib’s competence in overall grappling ability in MMA. Prime vs prime this would have been Khabib’s hardest test
I think GSP was a good enough athlete to stifle Khabibs wrestling and turn it into a stand up fight. Khabib is a bad ass but hes the smaller wrestler and the worse for stand up. Im not saying he has no chance because khabib is one of the goats and if GSP makes a mistake it could be over quick but i feel GSP was just a better rounded fighter. Khabib is the shit tho. The true winner would be the fans.
GSP beat college level wrestlers in the blast double era of MMA. He was great for the time but a scrub compared to Khabib relatively speaking.
Honestly, I don’t think GSP in his prime was much better than someone like Belal Muhammed (who admits he can’t even move against Khabib). Very similar stylistically lay and pray style grappling, poor sub game and advancing position. Not 1/10th the grappler.
He would be in for an absolute rude awakening against Khabib or Islam for that matter.
Khabib and Islam’s sambo/judo trips and throws and relentless Russian style chain wrestling would be too much for Georges who was used to defending against the collegiate American style.
Especially is we’re talking about the Khabib that started destroying/finishing everyone later in his career or Islam on his recent 5 fight finish streak. They levelled themselves way beyond where GSP ever was.
Taking Khabib down is not the path to beating him. He’s lethal off his back. Georges would need to avoid the grappling altogether and try to stuff him for five rounds and pepper him with his jab. Of course that wouldn’t work because Khabib would trip him up.
Khabib nearly killed himself to make weight and dropped out of many fights at 155. Never testing himself at 170 says all you need to know about the guy. Best lightweight yes but he wanted nothing to do with 170 pounds. He would get owned everywhere by GSP.
@JackMerridew the more I read your analysis the more I get on the Khabib/Islam/Dag bandwagon. But there’s one gaping hole in your analysis that undermines everything you’re saying.
How many more fights is Islam planning on having now that he’s won the belt? You can use the “promise to Mama Nurmagomedov” excuse exactly once. What does it say about their skill and technique if every single Dag that wins the title retires two fights later at age 31 +/- 1? Is that some kind of genius that the rest of us just don’t understand? Or is it that they know that horse only has a mile or two left on her before it’s time for the glue factory?
I would hate to be Islam right now. If he retires early it undermines the whole Nurmagomedov legacy + exposes the “promised my mom” bullshit for the lie that it is.
