The UFC might never be able to host a fight as intense as the one between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov in UFC 229. But was it only the war of skills that elevated it to that stature? Probably not. In fact, skills had very little to do with that.

It was the difference of cultures and lifestyles that clashed, ultimately ending in an ugly brawl involving the teams of Conor and Khabib. Although Khabib won in a round 4 submission to settle the score, looks like the excitement of that fight is still on, central to which is the ask, whether Conor had any chance to win against Khabib. And why not? After all, Conor is the only fighter besides Justin Gaethje to have won a round against Khabib. Bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley stirred up the debate again with his recent take on the matter.

Red Corner MMA on August 24 posted a clip of a conversation with Sean. According to Suga, Conor McGregor was a good fighter at one point in time but ‘The Notorious’ could have never ousted ‘Eagle’. “No, I don’t really know Khabib. I don’t know—Khabib is too good. Styles, styles are a big thing,” Sean said. Alongside, he also echoed Dana White in saying that Khabib should have fought for some more time to establish unquestionable dominance.

“Khabib could have fought a lot more people, like [to] really establish that dominance… So, it’s hard to say if Khabib’s just that good or if it’s just those guys, matching up. It’s just a tricky fight for Conor,” Sean noted in the conversation. While we can take Sean O’Malley’s opinion with a pinch of salt considering his beef with ‘Notorious’ after the Ryan Garcia fiasco, a comparison between the styles of Khabib and Conor might give us a reason to accept his thoughts.

Both Conor and Khabib have their strongholds. Take striking for example. The two are essentially on the opposite poles in that. Conor is brilliant in this aspect, and has a wide array of punches and kicks in his kitty. his left straight is his best weapon but his hooks and uppercuts are equally strong when needed. Especially his impeccable timing and perception of range are top-tier. On the other hand Khabib’s striking is not like a seasoned boxer. But even then he has a tactic in his armour.

Khabib uses his striking to set up his deadly ground game. Kahabib has less variety than Conor, but he has developed the tricks to make that useful.  He prefers to use his striking to bring about the takedowns. So, it can be safely said that in terms of only striking Conor will stay ahead. Now come to grappling.

It has been a major weakness in Conor’s skillset. That is visible since most of his losses has been by submission. Conor does not have a solid grappling to resist top-heavy competitors like Khabib. The latter stands extremely strong in this area. He uses various trips, body locks, and single/double-leg takedowns to stifle his opponents, hurting them with a stream of punches from the top position. Khabib never goes out of position while grappling. Understandably he takes the crown here. But what about their stamina while in a fight?

Conor McGregor has this ability tremendously as is evident from the fact that has been knocked down twice only; by Khabib and Dustin Poirier. In fact, even after shots from guys like Chad Mendes and Nate Dia, Conor has won the fights. On the other hand, Conor has never been knocked down even once in his career. Quite astonishingly, he has an impeccable ability to avoid bodily damage. It seems Khabib is a phenomenal in figuring out where he needs to place himself to avoid getting hit. So what is the verdict?

While Conor is good, Khabib is excellent. However, Conor’s fight tactic is quite praiseworthy. He can read his opponents really well and can quickly exploit their mistakes to win opportunities. His pre-fight trash talk is also part of that. On the other hand, Khabib is in stark contrast to this. He has a calm demeanor who is not much into pre-fight hype. Rather his focus is on meticulous preparation based on what he needs to do against a particular opponent. As things stand, this has paid him more than enough, evident in his 29-0 UFC record. The final word?

Taking all these together, it seems that Sean has not just made a passing comment about Khabib’s superiority. Despite that, fans could not stop rekindling the old debate of what could have happened.

Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov debate has yet to settle for the fans

Their match was nothing less than a match between equals, however, ‘Eagle’ was a better match that night. Regardless, a fan states that if Khabib Nurmagomedov fought the hungry Conor McGregor then he would have had a pretty hard time, “Tho khabib won fair n square I do think if Conor had train well and stayed off the liquor there’s a chance he could’ve won.”

One thing that Khabib Nurmagomedov capitalized way too much was wrestling and to date, no one has the capability to even get past his elite level of grappling. A social media user highlighted the same thing, ““Khabibs forward pressure mixed with elite wrestling n ground control Is unmatched till today.”

Conor McGregor has always been a striker. The former dual-weight champion never really had to focus on grappling and that proved to be harsh for him as Khabib Nurmagomedov was a bad match for him but still when they fought each other more striker at McGregor, “Connor had a punchers chance . That’s about it . But even lost the striking battle with khabib.” Furthermore, another fan highlighted the same thing, “In just striking I think Connor wins. But khabib destroys Connor on the ground for sure.”

Moreover, McGregor finally found some support from a fan, “If Conor fight Khabib before he win that belt I think Conor can win by Unanimous Decision, you don’t know his spirit & obsession about MMA before he become a rich.”

Last but not least, a fan pointed out Sean O’Malley’s hypocrisy,  “This guy watches conor mcgregors old fights before he fights  literally the proof is in the new UFC series someone tell they guy to shut up.”

What’s your take on the debate? Do you believe Conor McGregor could have ousted Khabib Nurmagomedov before his emergence to fame? State your thoughts in the comments below.