Frank Mir sees Khabib Nurmgomedov beating Conor McGregor at UFC 229.
Two-time UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir was actually fairly sympathetic towards Conor McGregor when he was getting into trouble during his period of inactivity.
After the dolly-throwing incident at UFC 223 media day, Mir hinted that McGregor’s impaired judgment may have been linked with his profession. He gets paid to step inside a locked cage with trained killers. By anyone’s estimations, that’s a bad idea. Mir admitted that for frightening situations that make people go, ‘Screw that, I’ll never do that.’ he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ It’s pretty safe to assume that ‘The Notorious is no different.
As for fighting a 26-0 Nurmagomedov, Mir believes that’s a bad choice too, as he told Phone Booth Fighting podcast.
“If right now, we’re putting money on it, my safe money is on Khabib.”
He believes McGregor has a 'huge chance' #UFC229 https://t.co/2mreEilS8t
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 13, 2018
A puncher’s chance
Mir feels that McGregor has one chance to win the fight – that trusty left hand. He believes he can land the same straight left that Michael Johnson landed on the Dagestani, it could make things very interesting.
“This just shows you how good Khabib is. Out of 26 fights, I did see Michael Johnson land one straight left that kind of hurt. If Conor lands that same straight left, Khabib’s going to go to sleep. That left that Conor has, that straight left, puts everybody on Queer Street. Maybe it doesn’t knock out Khabib, but it’s going to hurt him and it could really change the outcome of a round and could cost some problems.”
“That being said, you’ve got to think that Khabib knows the straight left coming down the middle is the only shot that Conor has to win the fight and early. That’s a lot that Conor has to hope lines up. If I was Khabib, just grind him at first. First round, just clinch him. Don’t even take a shot. Clinch with him, walk with him against the cage, make it ugly if he wants, grind him.”
“I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say it’s a Khabib fight.”
Pressure may create diamonds, but for this fight, Mir believes it will create dust. He believes that McGregor is prone to gassing out. He points to the second fight against Nate Diaz as an example, which McGregor, of course, won.
“We know that Conor has those really high-octane anaerobic-type musculature which allows him to be extremely powerful and quick, but he burns out. We’ve seen it fights before where he gets into those extremely grinding fights, like he did in the second fight with Diaz, the third round he was backpedaling. He looked like he was ready to fall on his face. And Nate Diaz can’t put the same kind of pressure that Khabib can put on him. So if he thought that was bad, it’s going to be worse.”
Some folks are pointing towards the Al Iaquinta fight as one that highlighted a chink in Nurmagomedov’s armour. However, Mir feels that Iaquinta is more well-rounded than McGregor. He believes McGregor’s fight against Chad Mendes is a better example of what could be in store at UFC 229.
“Chad took him down, I think twice in both rounds. If Mendes took him down, Khabib’s taking him down. Mendes had a two-week camp, he wasn’t in great shape, he wasn’t able to put any heat on him once he got him down. I don’t think anybody in the world thinks that Conor can survive underneath of Khabib on the ground. That’s nothing against Conor. I don’t know anybody in the lightweight division (who could) besides Tony Ferguson.”
“That's why the fight changed and that's when I had a big, stupid grin on my face.” @John_Kavanagh @robinblackmma https://t.co/w3RkhO6Gfd
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 30, 2018
Closing out the show
Pretty much everyone bar maybe Dillon Danis, will agree with Mir’s final point. If McGregor winds up on the bottom, it’s game over. Nurmagomedov is lethal on the ground.
“The 26 people that he’s faced, when they wind up on the bottom with Khabib, they take a beating. He’s one of the best in the world, if not the best at ground and pound. He probably has the most vicious ground and pound.”
He’s certainly up there anyway.
