Remember when Paul Felder – Khabib Nurmagomedov fight seemed like it was going to happen?
During that absolutely mental UFC 223 fight week, a Paul Felder – Khabib Nurmagomedov headliner felt like a genuine possibility for a couple of hours.
“The Irish Dragon” was scheduled to fight Al Iaquinta in Brooklyn. But, of course, ‘Ragin’ ended up stepping in to fight Khabib for the lightweight belt after Max Holloway was pulled from the card. ‘Blessed’ came in as a replacement for Tony Ferguson who blew out his knee in a freak accident on April Fools. However, Holloway was deemed unfit to continue his weight cut by the athletic commission on the day of the weigh-ins.
Once Holloway was out of the equation, the scramble began. Former champion Anthony Pettis was initially thought to be the new headliner as his scheduled opponent Michael Chiesa was forced off the card due to injuries sustained in the Conor McGregor bus attack. Alas, ‘Showtime’ couldn’t reach an agreement with the promotion.
So Felder put his name forward. He appeared to be a good fit since he had won his last three fights via finish. However, he was supposedly blocked from taking the fight by the commission because he was not a ranked fighter. So, Iaquinta moved up to the headline slot.
Felder was left fightless. But for those few hours, he was preparing to fight Nurmagomedov.
You'll hear this a lot in the coming weeks #UFC229 https://t.co/eZXrJOGuFx
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 17, 2018
The grudge match
Aside from being an excellent fighter, Felder is a top class analyst. He was a revelation in the commentary during the first season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. After shining on that show, he has picked up some regular work covering UFC cards as a commentator.
So his opinion on fighting is always worth listening to and he has a very interesting one for the most anticipated MMA fight of the year. He is of the opinion that Nurmagomedov may land some shots on Conor McGregor at UFC 229, as he explained on The MMA Hour.
“I think for Khabib we talk about how he’s not as good on the feet and he has all these problems, but his pressure is so unrelenting that he’s able to land a lot of big punches on guys that we’ve kind of stopped talking about because he gets the takedown and he’s got submissions. But he’s in your face.”
That Dagestani was dog shit the other night you's are all nuts. Game full of sloppy bums asking to be slept. Pay me my worth and Kings back.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 1, 2018
The ‘dog shit’ performance
McGregor wasn’t impressed with Nurmagomedov’s performance at UFC 219. We’ve no doubt that ‘The Notorious’ saw something in that fight against Edson Barboza that he draws confidence from, but the truth is, it was a pretty damn good showing from Nurmagomedov.
Barboza entered into the bout with an 86% takedown defence rate. Nurmagomedov took him down four times. The Brazilian was also considered to be one of the best strikers in the lightweight division. Nurmagomedov outstruck him by 154 to 25.
How did he manage the latter feat? Let Felder explain.
“He landed a lot of shots on Edson Barboza who’s clearly a better striker. But, because of the takedown threat, because of the ground and pound, and the pressure, guys have to back-pedal, they have to worry about his wrestling and it opens up for big strikes.”
Don’t be surprised, motherfuckers!
A lot of people are saying McGregor vs Nurmagomedov is a striker vs grappler affair. Sure, McGregor is easily the better striker. Also, Nurmagomedov is second to none in the grappling department. However, just as Dillon Danis thinks McGregor might surprise a lot of people on the ground, Felder believes Nurmgomedov could do the same on the feet.
“So, one of the things that we could see that might throw people off is Khabib might be able to land some punches and some strikes because you know that he’s going to be coming to take you down and you have to worry about that anytime you’re fighting that guy. I think his boxing is completely forgotten about even though he’s improved it and it is getting better.”
All valid points. Don’t expect Khabib to try that ‘Ali-inspired’ boxing against ‘The Notorious’ either. His coach laughed at the prospect of that happening.
October 6 is the date. Las Vegas is the location. This one’s not to be missed.
