Just seen this poll asking fans to decide how great Khabib was and most said he is either the GOAT ot one of the top 3, but how great was he really? I think he may have had the greatest ground game of all-time.
Someone posted a thread a little bit ago on this forum about whether Khabib was overrated, and I'll post what I said there. First of all, I like Khabib's skill set a lot. He has revolutionized ground and pound in MMA and taken it to the next level. He's also a hell of a submission grappler and had been very underrated in that aspect. But I can't believe that people are comparing him now to all-time greats or even calling him the GOAT. Really? People think he's a greater fighter than GSP, Demetrious Johnson, Fedor Emelianeko, Jon Jones or Dominick Cruz, just to name a few? Why? Because he's undefeated? Very few boxing fans would contest that Rocky Marciano was a greater fighter than Muhammad Ali even though Marciano was undefeated and Ali lost five times in his career. That's because Ali's achievements and the level of opponents he beat blows Marciano out of the water. The McGregor win sounds good in terms of name value, but that was the worst version of him we've ever seen. His body was soft, his reactions were slow and he looked like he was coming off a a drug bender. He was probably still top ten, but a far cry from the guy who crushed Alvarez. The Dos Anjos win was good. Dos Anjos was about 5th in the world at the time, but this was before he hit his prime with the Pettis and Cerrone wins as champion. And I think Dos Anjos was always an overachiever that made himself good through sheer effort after early setbacks, but was never the most talented or skilled guy in the world. Poirier was a really good win and probably the best notch on Khabib's belt. I never expected him to beat Holloway and he proved himself to finally be an truly elite guy with that win before Khabib dealt with him in relative ease and finished him. Barboza was a good win as well. But although he was top 10 at this point, I believe he was already on the decline. Ferguson beat the best version of him in my opinion. Al Iaquinta is a good, solid fighter, but nothing more than that. The Gaethje win made his resume a little deeper than before. Gaethje is a legitimate top ten fighter, but let's not forget this is a guy that this is a guy who both Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez put in the dirt and he went life and death against Michael Johnson. He has improved with victories over Vick and Barboza, but you yourself, Mark, said that he was very overrated. I think he made a big mistake letting that Ferguson fight slip through his fingers. It would have been a legit top 10 p4p name to add to his resume and would have been in his absolute prime. I think that's why Khabib was so desperate for the GSP fight. He knew that even a win over the practically 40 year old GSP would still be viewed very highly as a win over a two-division champion and an all time great. I can't believe how overrated Khabib has become over the last 24 hours. Is he top 30ish of all time? I think that's probably fair. Top 20? I don't think so. He just didn't beat enough quality guys. I think we're going to look back at Khabib like we do at GGG. Someone who, maybe not entirely through fault of their own, didn't get the opportunities to beat the best guys during his prime, and we'll be left wondering how great he really could have been.
He has a good case for the best at 155 BUT he has done nowhere near enough to be considered the GOAT of all time in mma, that's ridiculous. He made 3 defences NOT 8 or 10 and NEVER even contemplated moving up to 170 to test himself against the great wrestlers up there. He even had the audacity to suggest GSP come down to 155 for a superfight with him. GTFO of here with that demand. True greats go up weight and fight/beat bigger men, Khabib NEVER did. Look how Fedor, Frankie Edgar ALWAYS fought and consistently beat way way bigger men. That's what true greats do.
Greatness is about accomplishment and Khabib has accomplished a lot, but not enough to be the GOAT. When I think of GOAT, I think of guys like Fedor Emelianenko and GSP. Jon Jones is also up there, but he ****ed himself with multiple failed PED tests. I would consider Khabib the greatest grappler of all time. He has shown that he's the most well-rounded grappler MMA has ever seen. The way he controls people on the ground is pretty amazing. He is basically a nightmare for strikers, a nightmare for any style really. I wish he was able to fight a bit longer. With only 4 title defenses, he's a bit short on accomplishment compared to the true greats.
Not enough title defences to be goat Tbf he had bad luck with injuries and had to win 10 fights to get shot, considering gsp had a shot within 3 fights and Jones about 6 or 7 The most dominating fighter and never was really in serious trouble and left each fight without a mark. Considering how many top strikers he faced that's remarkable For me he is the best I have seen in over 20 years watching He might not have goat resume, but he was certainly the best fighter periord 3 title defences and 3 finishes vs top guys In comparison gsp had only 1 finish in 9
