I didn't like Conor's performance.
He didn't show up at all last night. He was lethargic and tired from the beginning.
He couldn't move his feet or raise his hands. He ate that powerful right hand from such a distance. I mean he made a career of
countering this shit.
I think it was a combination of ring rust and the fact that mcgregor has pretty low endurance anyway.
I don't think he was lethargic at all. He did extremely well trying to shrug off Khabib's attempts to take him to the floor, did a decent job trying to prevent his legs being locked down and did a pretty good job making it as difficult as possible for Khabib to pass his guard - while staying relatively calm. He did better than most of Khabib's previous opponents.
The problem was that Khabib's constant pressure and the threat of the takedown took a lot of strengths away from McGregor. He made a conscious decision to place more importance in preventing the takedown - the result was that his guard was very lowered and he was getting sucked into the type of fight/pace Khabib set.
A war of attrition is not the kind of fight McGregor wants to be in especially against someone who naturally has more in the gas tank.
The overhand right that caught McGregor was because the threat of the takedown was so real that he initially thought Khabib was going to level change on him & go for the legs. What Khabib actually did was very smart and it was a feint for an overhand right that he ate flush. Conor struggled with perceived level changes all night and I think had Khabib focused more on this - the fight might have ended a lot sooner.
The resulting gnp was some of the most vicious beating I've ever seen someone take on his back - you have to give McGregor credit for surviving that. That onslaught I feel took a lot out of Khabib and the third round was him waiting to recover and waiting for the second wind. That should have been the ideal moment for McGregor to turn it around - but he didn't have the tank & umph in his punches to do it. Also Khabib like I expected did a better job of defending himself on the feet that people gave him credit for.
There was a bit of ring rust there for sure. But I think that Khabib wasn't at his best either imho. I think he was too emotionally invested and should he have been more composed he probably would have completely shut McGregor out.
I think that McGregor also underestimated Khabib's striking - I thought a lot of people were overlooking it. He's not as adept as Conor but he's no slouch either. His striking is rudimentary but very effective/functional for what he needs it for. His jab was on point and he was catching Conor a lot more than people thought he would.
As far as the kicks go - I think they might have been the way to go. But I think Khabib was actually doing a decent job of avoiding a lot of it. You also have to have a gas tank to be able to throw kicks in the volumes needed to keep Khabib off for 5 rounds. Most of the stuff he got caught with was in the third round when he was trying to recover.
I don't think there should be a rematch. I would prefer to see the Tony vs Khabib fight. I think as well that should a rematch be made - Khabib will do a better job a second time around.
Conor really struggled imo more so with perceived level changes from grappling to striking. I think Khabib should have incorporated a lot more level changing and I think that if he does this in a rematch it might be a one sided whitewash for him again.
