And we are underway.

♪♪

McGregor and Green are not allowed in play.

McGregor lands early.

Pressure right off the bat by Conner.

He's trying to force the shot out of Khabib with pressure instead of waiting for Khabib to come at him.

Khabib got a hold of his ankles.

He's got his leg.

And what he's got to do is get his left leg over the back ankle of Khabib's right leg.

He needs to get that left.

Conner needs the left leg behind the ankle of Khabib in order to stop this.

And now he's got it.

But a good defense by Conner.

He's got the ankles.

As long as he stays on the ankle, he's good.

He's doing a fantastic job of defending.

Look at him spinning around.

Khabib looking to complete the takedown, and he gets it.

Man.

Conner gets right up to the cage.

Let's see if he can get back up to his feet.

It's one of the big questions.

He's got his feet tied up well.

Look how good Khabib has done a job of wrapping those two legs up together.

This is what he does to everybody he fights.

He crosses your legs.

And now if your legs can't get away, then you can't get up. You're pinned to the floor.

And he's done this better than anybody.

He elevates and straightens your legs out.

And now what he's gonna do is try to lift

Conner's knees and legs higher than Conner's head so that he can't move.

Conner's just gotta stay calm and not use his energy because he's not taking damage here.

It feels like he's far better equipped to handle five rounds than he was when he left in 2016.

Khabib does such a good job of wrapping those legs up, so you can't get them out from under you.

Never seen anybody be able to straighten a leg out like that.

The way he hangs and he almost knee-bars you by collecting your heel up.

It's just different how he holds you there.

Most people can get away when you do that, but when Khabib grabs your legs, he just keeps them.

Yeah, he's doing it again.

Look at him pinch those legs together.

He does it different.

And they cross every single time.

He crosses them over each other.

He's just so good at squeezing.

This is what you gotta do to Conner early, though.

If you're Khabib, you have to do this early.

You can't try to give him all the rest he needs in the first couple rounds.

That's when Conner's the most dangerous.

Couple right hands have landed for Khabib.

His first strikes of the fight.

McGregor trying to control his breathing.

Ain't a big right hand there.

And what Conner's doing is he's trying to dig underhooks and stay in a ball so there's no hooks.

So, Conner, see how he's got over the top of Khabib's head or his arms?

He needs to get in between the arms and legs of Khabib if he's gonna get up.

He can't be on the outside of Khabib's arms here.

Again, Khabib ties those legs up together.

It's just tremendous how he does it.

And it's something that you see him do against every single guy he fights.

They know what he wants to do.

They can't stop him.

He's got a different type of pressure from here.

I think he's just extremely strong as well.

And now he's under the back of Conner.

So that Conner can't get his hips underneath him.

It's a lifetime of grappling.

And you do have a referee in Herb Dean that is gonna give Khabib every opportunity to work on the ground, especially when he has the legs trapped.

Right now we're seeing Conner okay because he's not taking damage.

So he's staying very calm so he doesn't waste his energy.

But once he gets wore out from this grappling, then you're gonna start seeing Khabib posture up and start landing the big punches.

But he can't do it too soon because otherwise Conner will get away.

He's gotta play the squeeze game right now.

Nice pass, straight to half guard.

And now the pressure is just heavy here.

You can tell he's extremely heavy.

That left shoulder in the chin of Conner really helps, makes it minimal for Conner to be able to get to a hip.

He does a tremendous job and he keeps it going.

He does a tremendous job and he keeps you from being able to breathe.

Pressure on the chest.

And then the overwhelming sensation that he can continue to do this as long as he wants.

And that is exhausting in and of itself.

I love that he's just being patient though.

This is what you've gotta do to Conner early.

You can't be silly and try to pretend that you're gonna give him space to stand up.

You've gotta smother him and try to take some of the wind out of his sails early so he's not so powerful.

Take some of that pop away and take some chances after that if you're Khabib.

And Conner can't use too much explosive energy to try to get up without technique.

If he does that, he knows he's gonna burn himself out and he knows if he can't stop Khabib,

Khabib's gonna be able to do this in the second, the third, the fourth, and then how long can he keep him away from it?

Well, don't forget, Conner used literally no energy right now because he took no damage.

He did get stuck on the floor, but he has no, so the second round he'll be fresh.

Let's see what he does with it.

Exactly the start that Khabib Nurmagomedov was looking for in round one.

Well, every mixed martial arts round begins on the feet.

Let's see how it goes here early round two.

Conner knows he can land that left whenever he wants, so that's what he's waiting for.

He's waiting for that counter.

He's waiting to force Khabib to take a bad shot and then make him pay for it.

That's what we're seeing here.

McGregor fires the knee up here to just miss.

Oh!

Massive right from Nurmagomedov!

And a knee from McGregor now!

Nasty right hand.

Wow!

And that's the problem with takedowns is they gain the respect of the striker.

Your striking gets better if you force takedowns because you're thinking about the shot, and now the shot's set up from the overhand.

He goes back and forth, and that's what's made

Nurmagomedov the best, that right hand.

Wow!

What an entry by Nurmagomedov, and now he has McGregor up against the fence.

Four-plus minutes with which to work.

And this is what Khabib has done to everybody.

If you stop his wrestling, then he's gonna punch you.

Once you start getting punched, his wrestling opens back up, and that's why you need a thread of grappling and striking mixed together.

But realistically, the sharpness goes to Conor in the striking, but the grappling is just so one-dimensional and so over...

He's working an R triangle here.

He's got it up.

He's on top of him, full mount.

Good scramble by Conor, getting his guard back.

Butterfly, not full guard.

But Khabib's all over him here.

And McGregor exploded there to try to escape.

Nothing doing.

90 seconds gone by here, round 2.

And the moral victory of Khabib landing that big right hand.

Oh!

Big ground and pound.

And Khabib said he wanted to make Conor suffer.

He also said he wanted to change his face.

This is one of the scariest things

I've ever heard a person say about a fight.

Well, not unlike Tony Ferguson, Khabib can go all day.

Oh, big right hands landing from Nurmagomedov, who came into this fight unquestionably in the best shape of his life.

Conor's talking to him.

I can't hear what he's saying, but he's getting tagged.

Well, that's Khabib talking, and he's not saying nice things.

Oh!

Big elbow from Nurmagomedov did not appear to cut McGregor open.

The power he generates from his ground and pound is just interesting.

I don't understand, because you can hear it landing over and over.

It's just ferocious.

I mean, he's the best ground and pound artist in the sport.

Oh, Conor's getting lit up.

Conor's in serious, serious trouble.

Oh, massive ground strikes here.

Herb Dean watching closely.

Khabib is trying to smash his face.

McGregor forced to just cover up.

How many shots can one man take?

Two minutes to go in the round.

And he's trying to gas Khabib out, because he's taking shots, but they're not the worst shots you can take.

He's covered up.

It just doesn't look good.

I don't think he's trying to gas Khabib out.

I think he's getting smashed.

I think it's a mixture of everything.

I don't think he has a choice here.

I don't think he's trying to gas him out.

I think he's getting smashed.

I agree, but you have no choice either.

Illegal knee on the ground by Conor.

A knee to the head of a downed opponent.

Can't interlock the toes in the fence.

McGregor got away with that one.

Still doing it.

Herb Dean should be warning him there.

He's going for a Kimura here.

That is tight.

That looks like it's gonna get finished here, ladies and gentlemen.

That's tight.

Good defense.

Why isn't he trying to get up?

Because he's exhausted, and he's getting his face punched in.

And I don't think he can.

I just think Khabib is so much better on the ground that he's surprised.

I agree.

And Namako Maddow's output hasn't waned one bit.

And remember, we're dealing with the old rules here, so Khabib has to wait until he's fully up to hit him with knees.

Crowd goes bananas as McGregor gets upright, but for how long?

He's taking some big, deep breaths.

30 seconds here in round 2.

Khabib can keep this pace for five.

And I don't believe Conor has a stoppage win in the UFC after the second round.

That is correct.

Conor hasn't had an answer at all for the grappling Khabib in round 2.

He's got a lot of ground.

He's got a lot of ground.

He's got a lot of ground.

He's got a lot of ground.

He's got a lot of ground.

He's got a lot of ground for grappling Khabib in one bit.

John Kavanaugh not wanting McGregor to chase.

We'll see if he can oblige.

Kavanaugh said pressure to get your air back.

You can get a little air if you pressure in the beginning.

And now Khabib's tired too.

Don't forget that.

The striking, he's full of blood.

The bell call.

Perhaps McGregor sensing that now.

McGregor leaving for that big left hand.

Khabib used tons of energy on that ground and pound, Joe.

Tons.

That was a crazy pace, that last round.

Well, we did see him slow down considerably against Al Iaquinta in the later rounds.

And now you're seeing Conor go at the body.

That's the same thing he did to Mendez.

He waited two rounds and started teeping at the body.

And then starts going up high.

There it is.

There's the teep to the body.

He's just trying to take the air out of Khabib, letting Khabib wrestle himself out.

Because you got to, it can go both ways.

Well, you hate to read too much into the body language, but this is as fatigued as I've seen Khabib Nurmagomedov in that octagon.

I don't know if he looks fatigued to me.

It doesn't look like he's breathing heavy.

It looks like he's trying to find his moments, but he's getting outboxed.

Yeah, I don't think he's tired.

I think he's just a little heavy from the grappling last round.

He's not tired, per se.

Muscles are full of blood, so he's a little slower.