Yamato's words+ common sense. He got knocked out twice and was so fatigued due to using "sloppy" adv CoC that he was unable to move, and just barely got back to his feet by eating food, and now every zorotard claims Kaido is "more nerfed", despite not being knocked out, despite having a mythical zoan, despite Yamto's words saying Kaido is only STARTING to show signs of fatigue, and even now is capable of wrecking the entire alliance without Luffy.
I said what we saw from Kaido so far, not his awakening that he will use against Luffy's awakening...
Apoo knocked Luffy out with his ability hitting at full power when Luffy wasn't expecting it, Luffy didn't have zoan durability/regen to deal with this, and Zoro himself NOTED THEY WERE DRAINING AND LOSING STAMINA.
Has Kaido been knocked out? If no then, proportionately he has taken less damage than Luffy, this really isn't rocket science.
Considering Luffy was fighting Kaido blow for blow, yes he can take the scabbard attacks and fight back, their attacks are much weaker than Kaido's attacks.
We have Raime Hakke and Boro breath taken while Big Mom set him up,
(extreme stamina drain from first G4)
Offscreen group fight from 1003 to 1008, Luffy sent flying by an attack
Club attack busts through Luffy's armament, direct ragnarok while prone KNOCKS LUFFY OUT
Kaido and Luffy fought 1v1 for 20-30 minutes off screen leading to extreme fatigue from damage and sloppy adv CoC usage causing Luffy to completely run out of stamina and unable to move, unconscious.
Luffy drowns for a short period of time while semi-conscious, eats enough food to barely fight, filling his stamina from 0 to probably worse than the state where he was able to fight Katakuri for over an hour.
New 1vs1 Some off screen clashes and blocking of attacks
Shuron Hakke, adv CoC headbutt, gundari gattling attack, offscreen fight continues.
Luffy takes a bite, boro breath point blank, roaring raime hakke.
You are under delusion if you place pre-awakening Kaido unbeatably above pre-awakening Luffy, that is not how the portrayal of the fight was...