All Latest ES ThinkTank Newsletter Hub NFL Golf NBA College Basketball NASCAR WNBA Tennis Boxing Olympics UFC Swimming MLB Track and Field Gymnastics Soccer College Football

Rashad Evans Lauds Conor McGregor For Pushing Khabib Nurmagomedov More Than Anyone Else In The UFC

ByKevin Binoy

Modified Nov 4, 2020 | 7:01 AM EST

Link Copied!

Conor McGregor vs Khabib Nurmagomedov was arguably the biggest card in the organization’s history. UFC 229 set multiple records in the company’s history and is to-date the highest-grossing PPV event. The grudge match was an incredibly exciting fight between two of the best at lightweight.

Despite being choked out in the fourth round, Conor fared better than most fans and pundits expected him to. Wrestling is not Conor McGregor’s forte. And it was heavily tested by one of the best grapplers we have seen in the sport thus far. Former light heavyweight Rashad Evans gave his opinions on Conor’s performance against Khabib.

Article continues below this ad

Conor McGregor is one of the best to

In a recent interview, Rashad Evans gave his thought on Conor McGregor’s performance against Khabib Nurmagomedov in comparison to the likes of Gaethje and Poirier.

He said, “Here’s the thing though. What Conor McGregor showed me after what Khabib did to Justin Gaethje, he showed me that he is one of the best to do it. That’s what he showed me. Listen, I don’t like to give Conor McGregor props because Conor can be crazy sometimes. But you’ve gotta give props where props is due.”

‘Suga’ continued, “What Conor did in that fight with Khabib, in hindsight based off what Khabib has done to everyone else, he shows that he is one of the best to do it in the weight class…. He made it hard for Khabib to hold him down….. He kept getting back up, and he even won a round once he had been taken down a couple times. So that should show a lot of people just how good Conor McGregor is”

Article continues below this ad

In the fight against ‘The Eagle’ Conor stuffed four of the seven takedowns attempted. In the striking department, he was able to land a staggering 96/128 strikes with an accuracy of 75%. For context, Poirier and Gaethje combined landed 59 strikes.

In addition, ‘The Notorious’ was able to land 51 significant strikes with an accuracy of 62%. He landed just three significant strikes lesser than ‘The Highlight’ and ‘The Diamond’ combined.

Despite not having the wrestling credentials that the likes of Justin Gaethje has, ‘The Notorious’ fared way better than ‘The Highlight’. He was also able to last longer and inflict more damage than both men combined, which is incredibly impressive.

Article continues below this ad

Do you agree with Rashad Evans’ statements? Is Conor one of the best to ever do it? And did he fare better than both Justin and Dustin? Let us know in the comments below.