@George Owen sorry to annoy you again but you’re like
the authority here. My question is, how good is Khabib when he’s making Gaethje throw ridiculous kicks that will never ever ever trouble anyone and that’s 3 minutes into the first round. It’s mental!
Yeah, that was a masterclass. I said before that fight, it was gonna be his easiest title defence, but he made it look way easier than I expected. Gaethje was in panic mode (a bit emotional maybe) from the very beginning and ended the round completely drained. (Crazy to me that 2 judges gave the 1st round to Gaethje.)
We all know how good a Sambo wrestler he is, but I think it's Khabib's mentality and fight IQ that sets him apart (tier 1*) from the rest of the fighters. Master of his trade, sticks to the basics and play it safe, no matter what's going on with the crowd, etc. Definitely the best lightweight of his generation. I don't think he is/was unbeatable (no one is), but the fact he won all those fights while barely getting hit, puts him at the top for sure, because the ultimate goal in a fight is to win while not getting hit. Tony for example (even if he were still undefeated), had a similar impressive win streak, but after every victory, you could tell he was leaving a piece of himself in the octagon, so he goes a tier below.
PS. I don't want Gaethje to get the next title shot, because we all know that Islam is better than him.