Where did Conor learn how to strike? The Karate stance etc.

[PubliusVentidius]

That karate bouncing in and out is effective but it's draining as fuck, no wonder he gasses easily. If you watch his early fights he didn't really do it.

 

[mmahorse]

this man

Or this guy

 

[Paynebringer]

Conor's whole style is based of Gunnar Nelson with just superior striking...

 

[HNIC215]

From a leprechaun...

Spoiler

 

[campbecc]

I'm pretty sure his base is boxing. he uses the boxing stance for when you are at a distance most of the time. But he has picked up some other techniques along the years.

Edit: there are two boxing stances. At a distance stance where you have your legs far apart to allow for movement (what Conor mostly uses) and the close distance stance where you square up and bring your legs closer to make your hooks and uppercuts more powerful but sacrifice movement.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

From me.

Rashad Evans voice *he got that from me*

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

He took the best bits out of all martial arts.

Taekwondo


JKD - Which is heavily Wing Chun based
Boxing.

Very much Bruce Lee vision.

I will say that those kicks are the sort of kicks that would have you thrown out of a legit TKD school.

Look how much bend is in the knee, takes all the power out of it. Joe Rogan would even tell you that.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

He watched videos of Lyoto and GSP when he was a kid

Is this serious or did you just throw it out there?

 

[bambammccoy]

He said Gunnar taught him the karate stance and how to use it.

Long post asking where he learned his karate, ended with "the only karate in 100 meters is Gunnar... but I don't know."

Come on bud.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

I don't think it's necessarily a karate stance. I think it's just something he developed on his own that worked for him. He trained boxing growing up and whatever natural striking ability he had he adapted it to MMA to compensate for the distance, kicks, etc.

And I disagree that his striking doesn't look like Owen Roddy. In the little I've seen of Owen him and Conor's striking look very similar. Minus that canon of a left hand that McGregor has.

its a karate stance, bro.

 

[Spacetrucker]

He went from plunging toilets to plunging bums.. he basically just cut out the middle man

 

[jayo2k]

Serious question which I don't think many have asked.

It's a well known fact that the early losses by submission led to him taking more of an interest in BJJ as a martial art. Many Conor haters like myself like to criticise his grappling, and as much as I don't think it's anywhere close to elite, I do believe he improved in that area since those early losses.

That said, I've never really paid much thought to how his striking developed. You watch some of his earlier bouts and he still seems pretty slick in that area. It almost seems like he somewhat had that skillset before he arrived in MMA. I know he supposedly had amateur boxing experience, but who ever knows how true those credentials are. It appears that everyone and their mother has a golden gloves title these days.

Conor is also renowned for his karate, in and out, style. I can pretty much guarantee that he didn't develop that style in a boxing gym, or from a boxing-centric trainer. He also doesn't have much of a striking presence in his gym with John Kavanagh being a BJJ based coach. I know former-MMA fighter Owen Roddy is his pad-man and somewhat of a striking coach now, but from what I've seen of his training clips and his own bouts he is pretty orthodox with his strikes - nothing of the karate variety.

Honestly, the only karate presence I've seen within 100 metres of Conor is Gunnar Nelson. I know they are teammates but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Gunnar taught or influenced this style upon him, but I'm not privy to any other explanation. Perhaps Conor had a karate mentor during his childhood?

He tried boxing prior specializing in MMA

 

[Black Paladin]

Vincent Pastore, green belt in Ragu Fu.

 

[neXt leVel]

 

[kevo1295]

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Thank you TS.

Conor was and still is a karate stylist. It was somewhere between Nate 1 and the Alvarez fight that the narrative became he was a boxer.


Conor tried to box amateur and we'll he switched to MMA for a reason.

I'm not saying Conor isn't a fantastic striker and has probably done countless hours of boxing training but his base discipline and the reason he is so effective is his pinpoint accuracy and distance control both which he learned from karate.

 

[CPH]

Funny Conor striking fact: Prior to the Diaz fight, he has criticized Muay Thai (clearly never having sparred, or even watched a truly elite Thai boxer work) ex:

"I just find that a lot of mixed martial artists get into a rut, coming out with that Thai Boxing flat-footed style. Against a guy like me that’s in and out and light on it’s feet, the angles are different. It’s the old age this is the new age…"

In the Diaz fight, he realised how useless his kicks were, and how his inefficient movement, over-reliance on the left hand had set him up for failure.

In the rematch, the basic low kick won him the fight. Of course, he made other improvements as well: greater economy of movement and a more diverse boxing arsenal being the main ones. But take all those low kicks away, and Conor would have lost. No way he beats Diaz with his hands alone.

 

[The Natural Born Runner]

He tried boxing prior specializing in MMA

Boxing training doesn't get you a karate stance though, does it?

 

[NotoriousMillions]

Serious question which I don't think many have asked.

It's a well known fact that the early losses by submission led to him taking more of an interest in BJJ as a martial art. Many Conor haters like myself like to criticise his grappling, and as much as I don't think it's anywhere close to elite, I do believe he improved in that area since those early losses.

That said, I've never really paid much thought to how his striking developed. You watch some of his earlier bouts and he still seems pretty slick in that area. It almost seems like he somewhat had that skillset before he arrived in MMA. I know he supposedly had amateur boxing experience, but who ever knows how true those credentials are. It appears that everyone and their mother has a golden gloves title these days.

Conor is also renowned for his karate, in and out, style. I can pretty much guarantee that he didn't develop that style in a boxing gym, or from a boxing-centric trainer. He also doesn't have much of a striking presence in his gym with John Kavanagh being a BJJ based coach. I know former-MMA fighter Owen Roddy is his pad-man and somewhat of a striking coach now, but from what I've seen of his training clips and his own bouts he is pretty orthodox with his strikes - nothing of the karate variety.

Honestly, the only karate presence I've seen within 100 metres of Conor is Gunnar Nelson. I know they are teammates but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Gunnar taught or influenced this style upon him, but I'm not privy to any other explanation. Perhaps Conor had a karate mentor during his childhood?

"Has improved since those early losses" No shit! A Sherdogger would improve their grappling from getting submitted with a couple months of training, and even two years of training much less Conor. Sherdorks acting like a white belt MMA fighter that didn't start training jiu-jitsu at five years old like everyone else today sucks because he was submitted in his first two years goes to show how unreliable they are.

He also trained Karate in Iceland with Gunnar.

 

[Adjutant]

Is this the best answer humanly possible?............yes, yes it is.