Chael: "When i watch conors skillset from television, i think its weird"

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"His chin is up and his hands are down. Guys thats really bad. If you are an aspiring fighter, do not copy. But there are certain guys that come along over time that do break that rule and go a long way with it"

I have to fully agree with chael here. This has always been baffling to me.

When i watch jose, eddie alvarez, poirier, holloway (etc...) fight, i can clearly see why these guys are highly regarded. You can see perfect technique display and well roundness to their game.

When i watch conor, i just dont see that same technique and skill displayed. Not even the athleticism.
Not a threatening high kick game. Not a great TDD. Not the most polished ground game. Pretty much no offensive wrestling. Moves weird and uses a weird stance. Also bad cardio.

Yet, he has beaten all the guys mentioned.

What is your take sherdog? Discuss conors skillset... and how does he get away with it. What does he do that allows him to overcome the holes in his game?

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Anderson fought the same way. It works for some guys.
 
You must be sniffing bath salts to think Holloway or anyone you listed has better boxing technique than Conor.

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Holloway already has permanent head trauma damage.

None of those guys move like Conor. They can't judge distance like Conor. There's more to boxing technique than throwing textbook punches whilst stationary.
 
It's kind of true.

BUT - Dudes timing and accuracy is almost uncanny.

He gets away with things because of his movement and his ability to pin-point shots that are superior to his opponents. He is really accurate with that left hand.
 
Great timing and precision punching will carry you a long way.
 
Part of that is the reason why Conor is so successful. He is different to most other guys with his style. Conors style is more heavily focused on his boxing which is where he excels over guys like Aldo who have more of a kickboxing style
 
His defense is actually pretty good when he's fresh. He has a nice quick shoulder roll. There's a lot of subtlety to his technique. The only flaw i've really been keen to is his tendency to drop the left after he doubles up. He ate right hand counters from floyd because of that.
 
The guy can flow.... could get the password to the Matrix soon.
 
Conor relies on pinpoint accuracy, and his timing is top notch, much like Anderson was in his prime. Is it crisp kickboxing or boxing technique? No, but it works for him. Conor has a natural talent for spacing and distance that some guys just don't have. It's not fair but them's the breaks.

Chael is right in that MOST people shouldn't emulate this style, as most people don't have that natural talent. Chael, however, is a wrestler, and to be frank, his stand-up is quite poor, so I would take any advice he gives, particularly criticisms of someone who is far-and-away a better striker than he is, with a huge dose of salt.
 
"Any sufficiently advanced striking technique is indistinguishable from magic"

A wrestler like Chael Sonnen simply doesn't have the mental capacity to comprehend Conor's striking
 
You must be sniffing bath salts to think Holloway or anyone you listed has better boxing technique than Conor.

tumblr_ohhg0cvLRI1qlskhvo1_400.gif


Holloway already has permanent head trauma damage.

None of those guys move like Conor. They can't judge distance like Conor. There's more to boxing technique than throwing textbook punches whilst stationary.
I think you need to read the Op again. I did not criticize his boxing or said the people i mentioned were better than him in that area
 
You must be sniffing bath salts to think Holloway or anyone you listed has better boxing technique than Conor.

tumblr_ohhg0cvLRI1qlskhvo1_400.gif


Holloway already has permanent head trauma damage.

None of those guys move like Conor. They can't judge distance like Conor. There's more to boxing technique than throwing textbook punches whilst stationary.
Come on bro you cant use that gif as an example. That was Max being the man and giving us a just bleed moment to enjoy. He boxed the fuck outta Lamas that fight iirc.
 
It's kind of true.

BUT - Dudes timing and accuracy is almost uncanny.

He gets away with things because of his movement and his ability to pin-point shots that are superior to his opponents. He is really accurate with that left hand.

His accuracy is highly overrated, he doesnt even reach the top 15 in accuracy %, he’s just very powerful when he lands his straight left
 



"His chin is up and his hands are down. Guys thats really bad. If you are an aspiring fighter, do not copy. But there are certain guys that come along over time that do break that rule and go a long way with it"

I have to fully agree with chael here. This has always been baffling to me.

When i watch jose, eddie alvarez, poirier, holloway (etc...) fight, i can clearly see why these guys are highly regarded. You can see perfect technique display and well roundness to their game.

When i watch conor, i just dont see that same technique and skill displayed. Not even the athleticism.
The guy has no high kicks. Not a great TDD. Not the most polished ground game. Pretty much no offensive wrestling. Moves weird and uses a weird stance.

Yet, he has beaten all the guys mentioned.

What is your take sherdog? Discuss conors skillset...



I think that part of it, is those guys(minus Max) all wanted to take his head off because of the prefight smack talk. That emotion throws their game plan out the window. The other thing is that they didn't see him as a threat until they got hit for the first time.
 
It's kind of true.

BUT - Dudes timing and accuracy is almost uncanny.

He gets away with things because of his movement and his ability to pin-point shots that are superior to his opponents. He is really accurate with that left hand.
This.

Conor is not an orthodox fighter in any regard. Besides the obvious fact he's a southpaw, he's also got a different skillset than most high-level fighters which is part of why he's able to beat great fighters. His skills are more in timing, quickness, accuracy, and "mewvment" which is actually useful, regardless of how many laughs it gets around here

He's not a bad boxer by MMA standards, but he's not a typical boxing-based fighter
 
He’s a southpaw and his timing and accuracy is good and I’d even say great in terms of UFC striking BUT he’s almost always had a huge reach advantage over almost all of his opponents. When he didn’t have a reach advantage and faced another southpaw he looked very average.
 
Conor relies heavily on that granite chin of his. He's been cracked by Mendes, Porier, Diaz, and Floyd hit him with a 10 piece combo that didn't even drop him. It's not smart but so far so good.
 
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