It probably would come as no surprise that friend and training partner of Conor McGregor Dillon Danis believes that Conor McGregor is going to defeat Khabib Nurmagomedov in the UFC 229 main event. What may come as a surprise, however, even by Danis standards, is his statement of McGregor’s grappling potential if he were pitted in a grappling matchup against Nurmagomedov:
“Conor could beat Khabib in a grappling match,” Danis told Ariel Helwani on Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday. “I think if you put them in a grappling match like ADCC, I think people would be surprised. Conor is a special athlete. The way he moves his body, he has the ability to move in certain ways and make passes and stuff. He’s a really good athlete.”
Dillon Danis is aware of the early success Chad Mendes had in taking Conor McGregor down in their 2015 bout and that fans may be quick to point that out when discussing how the Conor McGregor/Khabib fight will go (let alone a hypothetical grappling matchup), so he was quick to point out the difference between Mendes and Khabib:
“Chad Mendes is a better wrestler than Khabib,” he said. “What credentials does Khabib have in wrestling? Maybe in sambo. Chad Mendes was second in NCAA.”
When predicting the outcome of the actual bout, though, Danis does not expect it to be a grappling affair and instead pointed out a perceived flaw that what he considers an inferior striker was able to exploit. “Michael Johnson caught Khabib,” Danis said. “Michael Johnson is not at the level Conor is.”
What do you make of Dillon Danis’s claim that Conor McGregor would defeat Khabib Nurmagomedov in a grappling match?
