On Saturday, October 6th, one of the most anticipated fights in MMA history is going to go down. Khabib Nurmagomedov (26-0-0) is going to take on Conor McGregor (21-3-0), two of the biggest names in MMA right now.  It seems like everyone has something to say about the fight but pretty much everyone also agrees that there is no clear standout opinion on who is likely to win.

Fights come down to three possible outcomes: a knockout, submission, or decision. Nurmagomedov is much more experienced fighting on the ground while McGregor is a better striker. So what do experts think will happen?

Eddie Alvarez, a former UFC lightweight champion, believes that Conor will get taken to the ground several times and will not be able to compete with Khabib.

“I don’t feel like he has a strong spirit for fighting on the ground. Some guys have a really strong spirit, and they can stand up all day for 5-10 rounds, as long as they’re standing up, but when it goes to the ground their spirit weakens. I don’t think Conor has strong enough spirit to be able to withstand Khabib’s ground attack over and over and over. I have to give the edge to Khabib because I feel like there will be takedowns, and Conor will not get up; I don’t know if he has the spirit to stay in the fight in a ground fight with Khabib, where Khabib can control him for 15-20 minutes of a 25-minute bout. I have to give the edge to Khabib.”

However, Eddie has also said, “If Khabib does not correct the mistake of sitting back with his chin up and going to the side, Conor is going to put his lights out with his left hand pretty bad, pretty quickly.”

Dan Hardy, another former UFC fighter, believes that Conor will knock Khabib out with a left hand early on.

“I think he is probably going to have to get back to his corner after the first round and get back to his feet a couple of times. I think he will find a place for that left hand at some point. Maybe the late second or early third and I think Khabib will walk onto it. We’ve seen him slow down in the Al Iaquinta fight, and it was the first time we’ve seen him do five rounds. He did slow down. There were points where we started to think to ourselves, if he was fighting Conor here and there was that sharp left hand in the toolbox, he would be in trouble.”

I talked to some local Elder experts to see what they thought the result of the fight would be.

Max Scholtes, an avid follower of the UFC, agrees with Alvarez stating, “There’s no way Conor will be able to stay on his feet with Nurmagomedov. Khabib is gonna take him to the ground and get him to tap out by the third round.”

In contrast, Justin Haas, who boxed for a full week, takes Hardy’s side and believes that Nurmagomedov will not be able to handle McGregor’s left hand.

“Nurmagomedov isn’t going to be able to avoid all contact. McGregor is gonna connect with a hard left hand somewhere early in the fight and knock him out.”

Despite of the differences between these experts opinions they all agree on one thing: this is going to be one of the best fights of all time.