Mendes? Didn't he get tko'd ?
Dekkers,could've done whatever Conor has,only better.....
Mendes took that fight on two weeks notice. He was manhandling Conor until he gassed out. Conor already had 8+ years of MMA and grappling at that point.
Now imagine Ramon or Conor with less than 5 years grappling being matched up with a pre-USADA Sean Sherk. Sherk had the cardio to go 25 minutes. Sherk only ever lost to BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Edgar and GSP. Those were other great great grapplers that could shut down Sherk's game. Conor or Ramon would likely get ragdolled by Sherk if they had less than 5 years grappling.
I like Conor but he has only fought one wrestler, Chad, who was out of shape and fought on two week notice.
Conor beat Alvarez who is a decent MMA grappler but Conor had already been in the MMA game for 9 years at that point.
You can't just jump into the top 10 with only 2 or 3 years of working a sprawl.
Cro Cop and GSP are the most rare of cases to learn that quickly. Look how long it took for Mark Hunt to learn takedown defense. Mark can sprawl on some guys in the division but he will never be able to stop Stipe or Brock's takedowns.
Wonderboy Thompson stopped Jonny Hendricks' takedowns but WB already had 6 or 7 years grappling by that point. Woodley was able to ground him a few times though.
My point is these strikers MIGHT be able to beat 1 or 2 guys in the top 10 that have weak takedowns but against the majority of top 10 ranked fighters in any division you need about 5 years minimum of grappling training to survive.
It is absolutely necessary when fighting people who have been on the mat for 20+ years