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

[Godzilla3232]

Conor is a counter puncher. Leaving himself wide-open encourages people to throw at him, which in turn sets up his counters. Anderson did the same kind of goading, but was more animated and weird about it.

Conor clearly has a lot of faith in his chin/movement, and probably a certain level of disregard for the overall quality/threat of striking in MMA.

 

[mkt]

Does Chael just not realize that Conor WANTS people to strike with him?

Chael fought Anderson twice (something none of us have done). I think he knows a thing or two about that.

 

[Rikishii]

You are a moron just Google it. "Well

Its not anyones job, but you put yourself out there, then, when pressed, couldnt provide any reply to the question asked and then told me "look for yourself"

gtfooh.... nice way to backtrack lol

show me a gif of conor landing a capoeira kick ever in a fight in the ufc..... ill be waiting

If he is this great kicker that you say he is "known for", im sure there would be gifed highlights of the moments who gave him this reputation.....

No one could show me I was wrong on sherdog so I MUST be right. He landed a ton of kicks on Mendes BTW and an excellent spinning kick to the ribs.

 

[That209]

Conor has a lot of great qualities, but the guys who talk about his reach as his main strength are simple minded.

Without a doubt his composure and vision are his best traits, most guys even the greats clam up to an extent when under fire, but that is actually the moment Conor is at his most dangerous, coz he doesn't shut his eyes or cover his head, he watches and exploits the openings guy leave when they think the can hit him.

Conors the best striker in MMA history, only Anderson comes close.

Chael is either inept at understanding striking on a basic level or is just looking for clicks.

You’re right.

He’s the most effective striker we’ve ever seen in the sport. Besides Nate and Max, nobody has been able to survive him for very long. He mauled Nate easily in both fights until he started to get tired of beating him up. If Nate didn’t have such an incredible chin, he would’ve been just another victim. It was the same story with Max, who clearly has a hell of a chin. Everybody else was treated just like those two, only their body was not capable of taking his punches as well. Anderson had more trouble on the feet against lesser strikers/opponents. Other than that, Chael is just being an idiot again.

He always says dumb shit about Conor. He always tries to downplay his skills, his wins, etc. He’ll talk his opponent up like they’re a bad motherfucker, how it’s a tough match for Conor (even picked a few of his opponents to beat him, too, pretty sure). Conor wins again and Chael does his best Sherdog impersonation by completely changing his tune about his opponent, basically saying they suck even though last week they were amazing..? Its gotten tk the point I’m believing Chael either really doesn’t like Conor, is jealous or just sucks at calling fights (he does). Chael is not the man I’d want to take striking advice from, lol. I’ll listen to some strikers for that one.

You’d think he would understand why Conor often keeps his hands low since he’s a pro fighter, but apparently not (it can be as simple as how he does this to bait opponents in).

 

[moreorless87]

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.

Ironically I think there might be the case that dispite winning twice Holloway ultimately came off worst damage wise vs Aldo having to walk though so much punishment to do so.

Really I think you need to view Conor much more like someone such as Machida, obviously not identifcal but in both cases controlling the distance is everything, there close in boxing isn't brilliant but their ability to land their counters at range is.

Probably the most obvious advert of the "chin out" style being effective at range in MMA is Arona, he constantly did it and only Mezger and Soko ever caught him standing.

 

[Sjb1888]

You’re right.

He’s the most effective striker we’ve ever seen in the sport. Besides Nate and Max, nobody has been able to survive him for very long. He mauled Nate easily in both fights until he started to get tired of beating him up. If Nate didn’t have such an incredible chin, he would’ve been just another victim. It was the same story with Max, who clearly has a hell of a chin. Everybody else was treated just like those two, only their body was not capable of taking his punches as well. Anderson had more trouble on the feet against lesser strikers/opponents. Other than that, Chael is just being an idiot again.

He always says dumb shit about Conor. He always tries to downplay his skills, his wins, etc. He’ll talk his opponent up like they’re a bad motherfucker, how it’s a tough match for Conor (even picked a few of his opponents to beat him, too, pretty sure). Conor wins again and Chael does his best Sherdog impersonation by completely changing his tune about his opponent, basically saying they suck even though last week they were amazing..? Its gotten tk the point I’m believing Chael either really doesn’t like Conor, is jealous or just sucks at calling fights (he does). Chael is not the man I’d want to take striking advice from, lol. I’ll listen to some strikers for that one.

You’d think he would understand why Conor often keeps his hands low since he’s a pro fighter, but apparently not (it can be as simple as how he does this to bait opponents in).

Chael is just bitter that Conor is everything that he spent a career pretending to be.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

People forget that was a really boring fight before the kick, and Josh was arguably losing. It was similar to Nick vs. Condit. Josh was waiting for a good opening, and he finally got it an capitalized. But if he hadn't, that would've gone down as a horrible fight. It's not like Josh was picking Nate apart before the kick. And for the record, I like Josh and was really glad to see him win.

Rashad vs. Chuck was similar. Horrible fight before the KO, with Rashad trying to get Chuck chase him around until Chuck left himself open (by that point, his chin and reflexes were gone).

watch the fight again.

Josh Thomson wasn't losing. he was beating him at range with low kicks and high kicks, and he was beating Nate in the clinch by destroying his face with elbows.

i also don't see what the fight being "boring" has anything to do with it. Thomson was beating his ass thoroughly.

my argument is he beat Nate Diaz much more efficiently than Conor did, and the fact is, he did. he barely took any damage and he FINISHED Diaz in the 2nd rd. you can try to argue that it was "boring" but that's a personal opinion. i did not think it was a boring fight when i watched the fight.

 

[BBMN]

Take any number of fighters with the same reach as Nate at 145 or 155. Now, subject them to the shots that NATE TOOK in the first fight and how many go down, or are finished as a result? I'd say a majority of them at least go down. Nate's ability to absorb punishment was more of a factor in that fight than his reach.

First off, I gotta just come back to the notion that Conor simply gassed. I said it before, but you just brushed past it...

Conor's cardio didn't magically disappear while undertaking an easier cut than usual (he basically wasn't even cutting anything). He gassed because he was not controlling the pace. He gassed because Nate was landing lots of shots. Nate was landing said shots because Conor was for once, not at a reach advantage. Toss on top of that fact, Conor was not able to work his normal angles against a fellow southpaw. Some of his best offense was simply negated by not facing a righty.

Take any number of fighters at 145 with a 77" reach? What? There don't appear to be any. That's what I apparently failed to drive home to you last time. Not one fighter Conor fought at 145 had a reach advantage. Not one. How is this possible? He has long arms for his frame, and a remarkable ability to cut weight. So yea, when you're literally bigger than everyone you fight... you kinda have an advantage.

As for guys at 155 that have Nate's reach or greater? You'll be hard pressed to find many. Kevin Lee and Ferguson are the only guys right now with comparable reach. So you have literally no 145ers, and just two at 155 that occupy spots in the Top 15. He literally has a reach advantage in almost every fight possible, save Nate, Lee, and Tony.

Now onto the notion that he lost because Nate is just super duper tough, and that's the reason why Conor had such difficulty. You're operating under the pretense that Conor was able to land his best strikes, in that fight. No. He did not. Nate is tough as hell, but he's not super human. Conor was not teeing off at will and just crushing his own gas tank trying to slow the unstoppable juggernaut that is Nate Diaz.

Nate's striking, and reach threw Conor off his game. He only landed a few nice shots, with none of them being devastating fight-ending blows. Again, the reason why he couldn't land the same brutal shots he is known for is obvious - He has to be in range to do so. He had trouble getting to Nate's chin, not because Nate's hard to hit, or because he's durable. He had trouble because for once, Conor was facing a man with longer arms. It's really that simple.

And this all goes back to the very basic premise that is Fighting 101 - Size matters. I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but a LOT of Conor's success us based upon just being big at 145 (which is of course predicated upon his abnormal cutting ability), instead of him being some uber GOAT contender.