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Official Conor McGregor thread (part 4) *Updated Warning in 1st Post Re:Boxing match
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Been a bit quiet lately dealing with some personal issues but I'll throw in 2 cents while I have access to internet and hopefully I'll be back posting regularly soon
I think Conor's cardio is only about 20% of the problem of why he gasses.
He went the full 15 minutes with Max Holloway (he set a ludicrous pace in round 1), he was fresh going into round 2 and, despite the injury, he ended the fight looking pretty fresh.
Contrast that to both Diaz fights where his mouth was wide open taking deep breaths during the middle of the 2nd round. I find that interesting because he threw more strikes in 6 minutes against Max than he did in 8 and a half minutes against Nate, so logically he shouldn't have gassed sooner.
The key difference between the Holloway fight and the 3 fights where Conor gassed (Diaz 1,2 & Floyd) is that all 3 opponents tried to walk Conor down but he was only able to take one of them down (and hold them down) to get a breather - and that was Holloway.
When Max started to shell up and walk him down, Conor felt confident enough in his top game to take him down and control him. He didn't really look to pass guard but he was able to get a long breather and, crucially, deter Max from walking him down again.
Whereas with Floyd he couldn't do it (boxing rules) and with Nate he wouldn't do it because he was too worried Nate would submit him off his back. It was sort of funny but every time Conor dropped Nate with a punch, John & Owen were screaming at Conor to avoid Nate on the ground like the plague.
The threat of a takedown was an important weapon earlier in Conor's career whether it was Buchinger, Holloway etc. it would make his opponent think twice about walking him down because the threat of a takedown was very real and that can be enough to slow forward pressure against him.
Put it another way - Conor was absolutely cruising in round 2 against Nate in both fights UNTIL Nate stopped throwing punches. I don't think that's a coincidence. He was hitting Nate at will with crisp counters but as soon as those counters were not available to him, Conor seemed to throw a lot of panic punches to try get Nate to back up.
Slightly harsh to say this given it's a different sport but he did the exact same thing in the Floyd fight - as soon as Floyd started walking him down, Conor started throwing 6 and 7 punch combos to try get him to back away, but they were panic punches with no "design" behind them.
Imagine every punch Conor throws is a pawn on a chess board. When Conor is dominating a fight, he uses his pawns wisely, because he's setting them up for an attack with his bigger weapons. Whereas aganst Floyd & Nate, when the forward pressure came Conor just frantically moved pawns forward with no plan behind it. In the end, you just end up down a few pieces and in big trouble.
In plain English, a huge % of the shots he threw against Floyd & Nate in response to this forward pressure were meaningless shots because they either had no power behind them or, worse, no plan behind them.
I strongly suspect Conor's problem isn't strictly a cardio issue but obviously if there is a small issue he's not helping himself going on crazy benders ending up in treehouses or random hotels with nitrous oxide canisters all over the place...
I think the major issue he faces is that he hasn't figured out how to combat sustained forward pressure when taking his opponent down isn't an option - and that is a massive problem he has to fix quickly because Ferguson will walk him down from round 2 onwards and I suspect Conor won't be comfortable in Tony's guard.
Basically Conor could have a Mo Farah-level gas tank and he'll still gas if he continues to panic when dealing with forward pressure. Conor was, is and always will be a bully-fighter. He's insanely good when he's controlling the pace of a contest but very few lessons were learned from Diaz 1 & 2 because the same mistakes were repeated in the Floyd contest.
TL;DR: Conor & his team urgently need to address how he handles that forward pressure style. There are 2 options I can see to try resolve this:
Option 1.: Drill every single day with Dillon Danis, Richie Smullen, Gunnar Nelson (if available) in top-control. Hell, given he's super rich, maybe pay a good few quid to get Shinya Aoki into the camp or if he's busy try a strict BJJ guy like Keenan Cornelius, Rafa Mendes, Kron Gracie involved.
Take all ego out of the equation, take them down and tell them to really attack for submissions off their backs. Conor doesn't have to try pass guard or go for a submission but at an elite level in MMA he 100% needs the confidence to maintain top control for 60 or 90 seconds against anyone - even Nate, even Ferguson - in order to get a breather.
If he has the threat of a takedown, it will help stop opponents walking him down. Even Tyron Woodley had a realistic level-change threat against Maia and Maia is a wizard on the ground but the threat was still enough to get Maia's attention.
Conor needs that option back in his game. Takedowns are a monumental part of MMA, and the threat of a takedown can alter the flow of a fight. He simply has to have that threat going for him.
Option 2. Keep KO'ing people in Round 1 and lay off the vodka in between fights.0 -
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wonderfullife wrote: »Been a bit quiet lately dealing with some personal issues but I'll throw in 2 cents while I have access to internet and hopefully I'll be back posting regularly soon
I think Conor's cardio is only about 20% of the problem of why he gasses.
He went the full 15 minutes with Max Holloway (he set a ludicrous pace in round 1), he was fresh going into round 2 and, despite the injury, he ended the fight looking pretty fresh.
Contrast that to both Diaz fights where his mouth was wide open taking deep breaths during the middle of the 2nd round. I find that interesting because he threw more strikes in 6 minutes against Max than he did in 8 and a half minutes against Nate, so logically he shouldn't have gassed sooner.
The key difference between the Holloway fight and the 3 fights where Conor gassed (Diaz 1,2 & Floyd) is that all 3 opponents tried to walk Conor down but he was only able to take one of them down (and hold them down) to get a breather - and that was Holloway.
When Max started to shell up and walk him down, Conor felt confident enough in his top game to take him down and control him. He didn't really look to pass guard but he was able to get a long breather and, crucially, deter Max from walking him down again.
Whereas with Floyd he couldn't do it (boxing rules) and with Nate he wouldn't do it because he was too worried Nate would submit him off his back. It was sort of funny but every time Conor dropped Nate with a punch, John & Owen were screaming at Conor to avoid Nate on the ground like the plague.
The threat of a takedown was an important weapon earlier in Conor's career whether it was Buchinger, Holloway etc. it would make his opponent think twice about walking him down because the threat of a takedown was very real and that can be enough to slow forward pressure against him.
Put it another way - Conor was absolutely cruising in round 2 against Nate in both fights UNTIL Nate stopped throwing punches. I don't think that's a coincidence. He was hitting Nate at will with crisp counters but as soon as those counters were not available to him, Conor seemed to throw a lot of panic punches to try get Nate to back up.
Slightly harsh to say this given it's a different sport but he did the exact same thing in the Floyd fight - as soon as Floyd started walking him down, Conor started throwing 6 and 7 punch combos to try get him to back away, but they were panic punches with no "design" behind them.
Imagine every punch Conor throws is a pawn on a chess board. When Conor is dominating a fight, he uses his pawns wisely, because he's setting them up for an attack with his bigger weapons. Whereas aganst Floyd & Nate, when the forward pressure came Conor just frantically moved pawns forward with no plan behind it. In the end, you just end up down a few pieces and in big trouble.
In plain English, a huge % of the shots he threw against Floyd & Nate in response to this forward pressure were meaningless shots because they either had no power behind them or, worse, no plan behind them.
I strongly suspect Conor's problem isn't strictly a cardio issue but obviously if there is a small issue he's not helping himself going on crazy benders ending up in treehouses or random hotels with nitrous oxide canisters all over the place...
I think the major issue he faces is that he hasn't figured out how to combat sustained forward pressure when taking his opponent down isn't an option - and that is a massive problem he has to fix quickly because Ferguson will walk him down from round 2 onwards and I suspect Conor won't be comfortable in Tony's guard.
Basically Conor could have a Mo Farah-level gas tank and he'll still gas if he continues to panic when dealing with forward pressure. Conor was, is and always will be a bully-fighter. He's insanely good when he's controlling the pace of a contest but very few lessons were learned from Diaz 1 & 2 because the same mistakes were repeated in the Floyd contest.
TL;DR: Conor & his team urgently need to address how he handles that forward pressure style. There are 2 options I can see to try resolve this:
Option 1.: Drill every single day with Dillon Danis, Richie Smullen, Gunnar Nelson (if available) in top-control. Hell, given he's super rich, maybe pay a good few quid to get Shinya Aoki into the camp or if he's busy try a strict BJJ guy like Keenan Cornelius, Rafa Mendes, Kron Gracie involved.
Take all ego out of the equation, take them down and tell them to really attack for submissions off their backs. Conor doesn't have to try pass guard or go for a submission but at an elite level in MMA he 100% needs the confidence to maintain top control for 60 or 90 seconds against anyone - even Nate, even Ferguson - in order to get a breather.
If he has the threat of a takedown, it will help stop opponents walking him down. Even Tyron Woodley had a realistic level-change threat against Maia and Maia is a wizard on the ground but the threat was still enough to get Maia's attention.
Conor needs that option back in his game. Takedowns are a monumental part of MMA, and the threat of a takedown can alter the flow of a fight. He simply has to have that threat going for him.
Option 2. Keep KO'ing people in Round 1 and lay off the vodka in between fights.
Vodka and coke haha had to say it0 -
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