Bas Rutten Thinks Conor McGregor Has A ‘Puncher’s Chance’ Of Beating Khabib Nurmagomedov
Predictions are coming in from every angle for Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov and Bas Rutten is the latest throw his two cents in the mix.
Speaking with Submission Radio this week, Rutten laid out exactly how he thinks the fight is going to play out. Many are talking up the fight as a classic striker vs grappler contest and Rutten didn’t buck the trend.
“I don’t know what Conor’s been doing in the meanwhile, but still, if you fight a guy whose father is one of the most famous trainers that’s out there and who started probably when he was three years old wrestling, you know, you can’t learn that in a year, even if you train every day,” Rutten said.
“Yeah, you can stop some takedowns, but once the fight is there and punches have been thrown and little movement and little feints, it’s very hard to stop a takedown. So for Conor to take this fight, you know, for me, I think he has a puncher’s chance. Now, the good thing for Conor is the he has incredible timing and incredible accuracy. So, if he can land a punch, although Khabib has never been knocked out, but still, he’s never been hit by McGregor. McGregor can hit really hard as we know, because everybody he hits he destroys.”
Despite giving McGregor the edge in the standup, Rutten doesn’t think it’s going to be that simple. Rutten isn’t doubting the Irishman’s ability to win via knockout, but he does think Nurmagomedov’s grappling will give him trouble if the Russian can take the fight there.
“I would (favour Khabib) if he doesn’t get hit,” Rutten said. “To tell you the truth, I’m a huge Conor fan, although I’m a huge Aldo fan. I thought he was gonna have a lot of trouble with Aldo. Aldo, man, is an animal, I’ve always said it. I always said he reminds me of Ramon Dekkers. The way he fights, everything is power. No jabs, no nothing. And then to just dismantle him, and saying that before in the interview in the dressing room, ‘don’t worry, guys, it’s gonna be a short fight. I’m gonna knock him out within 30 seconds, within a minute,’ he said, and then he did it. You see, so if he can land a punch and if there’s a lot of pressure on Nurmagomedov. I mean, he cannot lose this fight, everybody’s gonna be on top of him. He’s gonna make a killing in money as well. You know, everybody wants to fight Conor because of the PPV deal, so that’s a good thing for him as well. I don’t know if it puts pressure on him. I don’t think so.
“I think these guys from Dagestan, they just go, it’s their job. They either go (into) book keeping or they go fight. For them it’s pretty much the same. So yeah, once it goes to the ground, I see trouble there for Conor. But if he can connect, you know, if there’s a stand up, it’s all about the connection, and if he connects that could be a knockout coming from him.”
Watch the full interview:
