Kevin Lee predicts Khabib vs. Conor

The biggest fight of the year, if it happens, is UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. former champ Conor McGregor. #5 ranked lightweight Kevin Lee appeared recently on MMAJunkie Radio and offered his prediction.

I think Conor’s probably going to sleep him, said Lee, as transcribed by Simon Samano for MMAjunkie. I’m just looking at the matchup and how the styles is, and especially with someone like Khabib. Khabib’s just got the same holes that I’ve been seeing for years and years and years. And I know Conor’s been seeing them, too. So, when you see those holes, and they’re not getting at least a little closed, then he’s going to get slept.

Khabib misses a lot of shots, too. [If] you look at his film, his actual stand-up wrestling and transition game is trash.

He’ll get mauled, said Lee, adding a reminder – he’s got to do that five times.

I don’t see [Nurmagomedov] finishing him. He’s going to beat the hell out of him, and he might break Conor’s spirit, because Conor can be broken, but I think Conor might be already kind of expecting that. And when something like that happens and you expect it, I don’t think it breaks you as easily.

There are some x-factors in there, with Conor having just trained for a boxing match and that being his focus for a long time. That’s a different type of pressure than when someone’s really trying to take you down. You can’t just swing at his head. You can’t just swing all out. But, I don’t know, I still think Conor’s going to catch him at one point.