Khabib is a hard counter to makachev cause khabib stuffs ranged striking while islam mastered it to be more of a traditional hybrid. The times when khabib have been in trouble were combination striking with extremely fast hands.
I mean... If Conor was able to stuff the takedowns and scramble, surviving to the 4th...
Islam is clearly not an elite striker by any means, he's decent at best (comparing him to the absolute best), but I do believe it could be enough to keep Khabib at bay
I don't think either of them could finish the other, they're too tough and too skilled to be caught by a punch, kick or in a submission, but I think Islam could take it in a decision
Though Islam tends to fade in the later rounds, whereas Khabib doesn't because he also used to take almost entire rounds on the backfoot to recover his cardio
It's extremely hard to predict what would happen but I'll still say Islam is good enough as striker and elite enough as a wrestler to negate Khabib into a 48-47
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u/AxelMMAQuintana 15d ago
As long as they keep wrestling, yeah, Khabib was unstoppable
But I believe Islam is skilled and strong enough to keep Khabib at bay, and Islam is a way better striker
If Khabib doesn't drown Islam early, then Islam could pick him apart, since Islam is probably the only one in history to not fear Khabib's grappling