Khabib Nurmagomedov has set the MMA world alight with his dominant and mauling style of fighting that leaves his opponents in a state of despair, but Conor McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy believes that he sees holes in his game.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is known for his ability to break his opponents will, but he is not known for his finishing ability. Although dominant, Khabib has only finished 4 of his 10 UFC opponents in the last 6 years.
Conor McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy believes that Khabib’s lack of finishing will give McGregor more time and more opportunities to land a fight ending shot. Khabib has claimed that he chooses to drag his opponents into the later rounds, but in an interview on the BBC MMA Show, Roddy has answered back at these claims.
“At the end of the day, Khabib hasn’t finished many fights lately,” Roddy said on the BBC MMA show on Thursday. “Now he always says he does that on purpose, but I don’t think so. If you’re going to go in and finish somebody, you go in and finish somebody. He says, ‘I like punish people for five rounds’, I always say, ‘If you’re going to give Conor McGregor five attempts to land a shot on you..’. So even if he went in and didn’t land the first round, or the second, or the third, or the fourth, he still has five attempts to land one shot. I’ve seen Conor McGregor go in and land within the first thirty seconds of the first round.”
Although Khabib Nurmagomedov does not finish all of his opponents, he is undoubtedly one of the most dominant fighters in the UFC, and he is highly capable of finishing anyone in the lightweight division. The question is, can Conor McGregor increase his gas tank? McGregor has been known to tire in the later rounds and with Khabib’s mauling style of grappling, McGregor will surely tire faster.
There’s no doubt that McGregor is the superior striker and after Khabib’s victory at UFC 223, many questions have been raised about the way he approaches striking altercations.
Who will come out victorious if Conor McGregor takes on Khabib Numagomedov?
