Feels Like the Stars Aligned Many Times to Create Conor's Success

[Garnet_StrongerThanYou]

Conor is talented as hell, no doubt about it.

But there are many fighters with similar talent levels that never, ever obtained his level of success.

It feels like things literally happened exactly the way they needed to for him to blow up the way that he did.

When Conor Arrived in the UFC, he was a bit strong 145 pound fighter, possibly the biggest strongest 145'er in the division.

he had great, explosive striking, and beat 5 strikers in a row. No Wrestlers.

Brimage, Young Holloway, Diego Brandau, Poirier, and Dennis Siver.

His first fight against a wrestler was Chad Mendes on two weeks notice, out of shape. He was taken down at will until Chad gassed from lack of conditioning.

Conor wins.

Fights Aldo, Aldo fights stupidly and runs right into the left hand counter and goes down.



Great, Well Played Conor, amazing.

Conor decides not to defend against anyone and try his luck at a higher weight class. Conor only takes fights with everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Was supposed to fight RDA. I believe that RDA would end him. But his foot was a balloon.

Fights Diaz and gets smoked. Great. Doesn't go back down to defend.

He gets an immediate rematch and arguably loses it. Close, Majority Decision against a LW journeyman at WW.

Then he gets a gifted shot at Lightweight.

Gets Eddie Alvarez. Alvarez fights terribly, gets destroyed and smoked. Khabib said the fight looked fishy and fake. I don't believe so it was just a terrible performance by Alvarez and great one by Conor.

That ends Conor's contributions to MMA. That was everything that he did.

He did great by acting like a boxer. He only fought when he had everything to gain and nothing to lose, and those fights against Aldo and Alvarez were his biggest wins. You could say they are his only wins that were relevant and mattered.

Guys in MMA don't make a huge dynasty off of two wins. Only Conor does.

 

[Megatronlee]

That’s anybody. Calm down

 

[Reign009]

I get that he's not popular but to trying to dismiss someone's accomplishments is one of the lamest things MMA fans do. If you play a certain angle, you can do this with any fighter.

For example, the stars weren't on his side when Aldo pulled out. Then he had to fight a wrestler on short notice. The stars weren't on his side when RDA pulled out and he ended up getting choked out by Nate.

It wasn't a perfect run but you can collect all the positives (or all the negatives) and push either narrative if try hard enough. This is bias.

There's no guarantee of success but these guys/girls train very hard to better their chances.

 

[D'z]

Completely agree TS. I'm semi-ok with it. Seems like fighters have a chance to get paid more as a result. But time will tell. But Conor. He was a complete anomaly. Not even half as special as his fanbase thinks. Great KO artist for about a round and a half. That's it. We've had LOTS of those. This was a combination of promotion, halfway decent shit talk, and timing....the stars truly had to align for this to happen.

 

[Emjay]

He still had to go in there and throw the punches and kicks while dodging punches and kicks

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Conor made them align

 

[Tapioca Cold]

Once again another shertard starting off his argument with the exact opposite argument about what he's about to state.

Maybe you don't know what 'stars align' means. Lol.

Conor made his own success. He made it with his own punches and statements.

Champions are always a cut above. A lot of guys have 'similar talent levels' as you say but Champs get it done and they do it without luck. (Some use peds though)

 

[Through The Looking Glass]

LOL

it was quite obvious to those of us with a brain even back then. Conor was never a great fighter. he had some good diuretics and the matchmakers working for him. thats about it

 

[Through The Looking Glass]

look at how conor got smashed by that LW from Ireland cant even remember his name.

People said it was because he was green but it really was because he was fighting at his own weightclass. he went down to skeletor weight and beat a bunch of old guys way smaller than him. couldnt cut the weight no more and now is a 50/50 fighter at LW like hes always been

 

[CPH]

Conor's fight against Eddie was brilliant. I agree: it's looking like that was his last hurrah.

 

[Nuclear Fallout]

I do not like him even in the slightest bit. I despise him actually. But he has talent and a ton of charisma which gets his name out there and people talking. He won 2 division belts, albeit he didn't defend a single one. A lot of mma fighters are great fighters, but lack charisma to market themselves. I have to give credit where credit is due.

 

[HHJ]

Conor's fight against Eddie was brilliant. I agree: it's looking like that was his last hurrah.

Yep.

 

[DivineMind]

It's not luck. He had talent and hunger coming up.

 

[PicoPulse]

Dustin didnt use it but he definitely had the ground game to sub Conor first time around

 

[wisdom blows]

Dustin and Diego were both sub guys, and Holloway had more UFC fights than Conor. This thread is fucking horrible and not even remotely unbiased lmao

 

[Rear Naked Toke]

Completely agree TS. I'm semi-ok with it. Seems like fighters have a chance to get paid more as a result. But time will tell. But Conor. He was a complete anomaly. Not even half as special as his fanbase thinks. Great KO artist for about a round and a half. That's it. We've had LOTS of those. This was a combination of promotion, halfway decent shit talk, and timing....the stars truly had to align for this to happen.

Yes. I'll get shit on for this but... Swanson had a similar run - Roop, Pearson, Oliveira, Poirier, Siver, Stephens - but he didn't get a shot. Instead, he got the promise of a shot if he beat Frankie.

Conor wouldn't have beat Frankie either, but that's exactly why that wasn't a stipulation for him. He wouldn't be anywhere near the draw he is if he would've fought Frankie in 2015.

The stars didn't align for Conor as much as they were strategically placed. Don't get me wrong, it's like what you stated; his size and skills helped, but moreso his mouth, favorable matchmaking, and carrying a new market with him played a huge role.

Not sure why there are people saying that anyone can do what Conor did. There were a lot of factors in play that weren't/aren't available to just anyone. That's just nonsense.

 

[Rear Naked Toke]

Dustin didnt use it but he definitely had the ground game to sub Conor first time around

I imagine that's part of the reason he went so hard on trying to piss Dustin off before the fight.

I don't remember Conor talking shit to or about anyone before that fight.

 

[cws80us]

Being in the right place at the right time is what makes a lot of people successful. Doesn't mean they didn't work hard to get there. And, even when you do get those opportunities, you still have to perform and take advantage of them, which he did. I don't care for him at all, but I still have to give credit where credit is due.

 

[IneedSometop]

His meteoric rise came from his ability to make people have an opinion about him and being able to capitalize on the opportunities he created. I don’t particularly like Conor but his performance against Alvarez/Aldo are two of the greatest moments of a fighter “rising to the occasion” I’ve ever seen.

 

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

I get that he's not popular but to trying to dismiss someone's accomplishments is one of the lamest things MMA fans do. If you play a certain angle, you can do this with any fighter.

For example, the stars weren't on his side when Aldo pulled out. Then he had to fight a wrestler on short notice. The stars weren't on his side when RDA pulled out and he ended up getting choked out by Nate.

It wasn't a perfect run but you can collect all the positives (or all the negatives) and push either narrative if try hard enough. This is bias.

There's no guarantee of success but these guys/girls train very hard to better their chances.

Nailed it