Yeah, you've fully convinced me. I've given it a bit of thought and even debated friends. He's got a great understanding of key skills like distance, timing, footwork and angles but he's got no ability to THINK ABOUT a fight in order to adjust tactics to match or beat an opponent's tactics. What he goes in with is what he does. Period. He can take a round off (by eating shots mostly) and he can grapple if his knee goes out, but if his offense is not successful, he cannot adjust it.
In fact, I've never heard him actually analyze a fight or have a game plan. His game plan is essentially "They're all the same. It's a whole other ballgame when you get in there with me and their skulls cannot take these shots" - there isn't any true game planning or strategizing going on at all. He just does him. And it usually works. And when it doesn't, his mind and body shut down and just eat shots and look confused and dead as the shots accumulate.
For example, Conor could NEVER be an analyst like Cormier or Cruz or even Stann, because he does not analyze fights. He's a confidence fighter. It's about him and it's about BELIEF - it's not about analyzing anything at all! He envisions shit and believes and makes it happen and if not, he shuts down completely and goes limp.
So he CANNOT understand what happens across the range of a fight because he doesn't even think that far into it. He thinks heavily on application of specific skills in the small frame. But I've never actually seen him express any analysis of any fight at all at any time.
It's actually amazing. This makes him more interesting.
But you've 100% convinced me he has far below average fight IQ. You're right - he couldn't even out-think a guy like Diaz, who is routinely out-thought in the octagon.
Very good points, EL GOAT. You've convinced me.
