Georges St-Pierre believes the first half of the opening round of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor could determine how the fight ultimately plays out.
The fight world is buzzing about the UFC 229 main event tonight (Oct. 6). Nurmagomedov will defend his lightweight title against McGregor inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. On paper, this is the classic grappler vs. striker bout and many believe it’ll be a one-way street if either man gets the edge early.
GSP Breaks Down Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor
St-Pierre recently spoke to MMAFighting.com and explained how the first round could be a sign of how the entire fight will play out:
“It’s going to be early. We’re going to see early in the first round what’s going to happen. If Conor can land, it’s going to be crazy, he can cause damage and end the fight early with his big left hand. Everything else is like a setup. All his kicks, all this stuff is a setup. His main weapon is the big left hand. Everything else, the trash talk, the kicks, the punches, it can hurt but it’s all a distraction. The left hand is the one that hurts every time. He’s a sniper. He’s very good at it. Everybody knows but nobody — it’s very rare, the people who have been able to avoid it. And that’s what Khabib needs to do. On the other side, if Khabib is able to put Conor on the ground or against the fence and smother him with ground-and-pound, that’s his game. So it’s going to be early. We’ll see in the first half of the first round how the fight goes. It will give up the idea of how the fight will end, I think.”
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How do you see the first round of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor going?
