First of all. i don’t know jackshit about fighting,
But i wanna know other peoples opinion on this. Not in a cage, no rules. Who wins?
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson
V
Conor Mc Gregor
I very well think he could have, lol
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It’s honestly impossible to say, there were a hell of a lot of people who looked tiny compared to Bob Sapp, who was actually a fighter (just not a great one), and he got his ass whooped by people much smaller than him. Conor is a particularly small fighter, but really we’ll never know.
If its enclosed, it’s no question. Halfthor catches him and smashes him hulk style into the ground repetitively. If Connor can run away and drop for the occasional jumping uppercut, maybe.
What if it’s a Hafthor-sized McGregor?
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He may have actually hurt someone during that bus incident, if that were the case. Can you imagine seeing a man the size of Hafthor doing the McGregor ‘arm dance’?!
Didn’t Pudzianowski try MMA after his prison stint for assault?
Weight classes exist for a reason. But a guy who is 425+ would gas out rather quick. I’m not sure whether the sub 200# guy would go for a KO strike the jaw or an arm bar or what. Can connor arm bar someone with 25 inch arms and a 6’10" wingspan?
I think any WSM competitor could break your spine just hugging you real hard or sprawling on you if you shoot a single leg.
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From a strength perspective, an armbar is basically a deadlift. You’re attacking the elbow with the same musculature, namely a hip extension. There’s a technical escape that isn’t strength based, but let’s say Hafthor is clueless about that, so his non-technical counter is to curl against the force of the armbar.
Can Hafthor curl more than Conor can deadlift?
Maybe, but probably not. Not saying that it would be easy to pull off against a monster like that, especially if he locks up with two hands and you’ve got to break that monster grip, but I don’t think even Hafthor could power out of a good armbar. Of course, he could easily pick Conor up while he’s working the armbar, and it would become a race to see if Conor could break the elbow before Hafthor slammed the shit out of him on the ground.
I think @brady888 has it right. If they’re fighting in an open field with no walls, Hafthor is going to have a hard time getting anything going against someone that mobile and well-conditioned. Conor could play the long game. How many kicks to the legs will it take to fell those trees?
Walls were my best friend when I was a dive bar bouncer, and if the fight was going down in a small bar without a lot of room to maneuver I think it would favor Hafthor. Especially once he realized he can throw bar stools and bar patrons at Conor.
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Halfthor would whoop McGregor. They have weight classes for a reason.
McGregor isn’t that known for his ground game (lets be real), and if he gets a big guy like Halfthor on him, even most of the heavyweights would have trouble.
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Not against other high-level grapplers, but he’s still a brown belt. Jiu jitsu against non-grapplers looks and works entirely different than jiu jitsu against jiu jitsu. It is well within his skill set to take Hafthor’s back and choke him out.
I’ve trained with one pro fighter who I outweighed by 100 pounds and would dramatically out-perform on any barbell strength measure. He’s a purple belt, which is one belt rank lower than McGregor. We were just rolling, not fighting, but I couldn’t stop him from taking my back and choking me out. And I had about a year of grappling training at that point. Does Hafthor have any combat training? I’m not sure, but I’m guessing no.
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he’s still fighting, and he’s becoming quite a good one.
To the OP: so to be clear, when you said ‘no rules’, are we talking like weapons allowed?
Generally, in a true no-rules street fight, whichever fighter is willing to escalate violence to the highest level the quickest will win. So that’s something to consider.
The Bob Sapp mention is only kinda relevant. Thor is much bigger and stronger than Sapp, and the guys Sapp fought were never as small as McGregor. This is nearly a 300 lbs bodyweight difference here, and Thor ain’t carrying much bodyfat. And I think that strength/reach/weight difference is sufficient for Thor to win against any living 170lbs or less man.
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Agreed there too. But there are also two factors in play here.
We’re talking about a 300 lbs difference, and I don’t really trust any celebrity fighters rank. I think McGregors brown is more like a non-celebrity Blue or Purple. Also factor in the mat time he took off to train boxing.
Yeah the size difference is huge, no doubt about it. And you’re right, who knows how Conor got his brown belt?
I suppose we need to wait for the sparring session above to turn into a nine figure pay-per-view spectacle to find out the answers. I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility.
Maybe relevant?
Highly skilled legit badass Igor Vovchanchyn, same height as McGregor but 30ish pounds heavier vs somewhat-skilled fighter (1-1 MMA record at the time, later in his career earned one win “by smothering”) a few inches shorter than Thor and 10-20 pounds lighter:
Same Igor, different giant (5-3 record, same height as Thor, 90ish pounds lighter):
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Comparing Halfthor to other large fighters is somewhat unfair. Halfthor can throw washing machines, 300+ lb stones, can deadlift a car many times, pull a fire truck, etc. He is a FREAK among freak athletes. He could close a short distance very quickly and maul Connor. If connor tried an armbar Halfthor could probably launch him into the air, or swing Connor and the attacked arm into the ground repetitively. We’re talking 170 lbs vs 420 lbs. I’m all about technique over strength for combat sports, but this is Silverback Ape vs Chimpanze.
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I don’t think comparing Conor to Igor is a good argument. Igor fought at HW. He was not the biggest HW, neither is Fedor or Cormier, but that’s where he fought. Conor never fought at HW and I doubt ever would or could. Nate Diaz was able to take his punches.
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With hafthors strength? That be fucking dangerous lmfao
That second vid where the fight lasted 2 minutes. The guy in the red singlet didn’t even have a good guard up. He took so many KO shots right to the jaw that would probably put a smaller guy out.