Did Conor Decline More Than Everyone Else Improved, or Vice Versa?

[LincolnHawk1]

Once he moved up, he didn't have knockout power in his hands anymore, and once he was fighting guys who could eat his left hand, then his cardio issues showed up.
Despite winning the belt, he's a losing fighter at LW, 1 - 3 and 3 - 4 overall above 145.

Well he skipped the line for his ts at LW. It would have been interesting to see how he would have faired against guys in too 5 at that time outside of Alvarez.

 

[HeDidn'tWantTheFight]

His chin's deterioration is the biggest issue, and I'm surprised more people don't talk about it. The loss to Nate was a submission, but in reality, it was a TKO. Conor gave himself up for the submission in lieu of continuing to eat punches. Then you have Khabib nearly dropping him a couple fights later. Nate and Khabib aren't big power punchers last I checked. And I get that the leg kicks had a lot to do with him falling apart vs. Dustin in their second fight, but the actual punch that started the finishing sequence is one that a lot of fighters would be able to eat.

If Conor could take damage well, then he'd be able to overcome a lot of his other deficiencies. He can't though, so I'm going with decline.

 

[campbecc]

Holloway was 21 when they fought. But Conor has obviously declined, he stopped training and partied you're not going to improve that way.

 

[Benoitthegr8]

A pleothera of things...

Big reasons IMO are predicated on his Inactivity

• Not putting the insane hours in the gym
• Doesn’t have the proper training partners and coaches to push him
• Mind and body are no longer in peak condition to fight
• He’s already gotten to the top of the hill and fell down
• No longer living the fighter lifestyle (part timer)
• Zero repercussions for skipping training or losing fights
• Obsessed with self image, incorrect type of S&C program for MMA

 

[Jhalv]

I think he spent some of his prime years not fighting mma after the Alvarez fight.

 

[kuroro]

The current version of Conor can't beat Poirier in 2013.

 

[Zanderlini]

Coke, aging and alcohol killed his reaction time. His reaction time is what made him, he never had super amazing power, he did have the nicest timing since Anderson Silva, witch led to many 1 punch KOs. It happens, you have to lead a clean life to last long at the top.

 

[Gunther12345]

he was never that good. Journeyman-level 1-dimensional UFC hype machine

 

[PicoPulse]

Hes no BJ Penn

 

[Genisys]

What do you mean by everyone? He lost to Khabib and Dustin. Khabib was always going to do that to Conor because he’s just too good at grappling and of course Dustin got better. Dustin was still climbing the mountain, so he was hungry. Conor is well paid and only fights for his ego now. Losing to two fighters doesn’t equate to everyone improving though.

 

[TheSwedishGOAT]

He lost to Nate Diaz in his absolute prime.

Let that sink in.

 

[Frode Falch]

"even Aldo...."

 

[Sickbro69420]

Connor has obviously become better while MMA has regressed.

 

[DestinedAussie]

No his natural weight class is lw. He is where he should be. The problem for him is that division is a shark tank and the guys at that weight class at least in the the top 5 can all take multiple power shots while also being able to distribute them. And they have cardio that mac doesn’t.

His literally won once at LW.

 

[warriorfan808]

Well, it’s different for each of them.

Both Conor and Max got better after their fight, but Max continued to improve and made more improvements. Let’s also not forget that Max was wet behind the ears when they fought.

Both Dustin and Conor improved after their fight. Dustin’s style just translates better to LW than Conor. Conor put on some muscle at LW, but it really doesn’t help his style. He doesn’t grapple and it makes him gas more.

Aldo is on a decline, but is finding success at lower weights where he can take advantage of his experience and size advantage. He is still one of the most skilled of fighters, but his fight game has been changed up to take advantage of his strengths at that weight class. As for Conor, like I said above, the extra size isn’t helping him based on his fighting style.

 

[Greyscale]

I can't believe we're talking about it in late 2021. Conor's career in MMA was OVER in 2016. Everything that followed was a massive money grab but as a competitive fighter he was done and absolutely worthless after 2016.

 

[MCS]

Experimenting with different stances, showing the curiosity is still there, but not enough cage time to improve. People don't really improve if sitting on the shelf. So same level or lower.

 

[Moro]

Others improved yes.

Conor declined ten fold.

Prime Conor beats Dustin easy.

Before people feel the urge to quote me, I made this thread before, so it's not like I don't think Dustin is awesome.

https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/is-dustin-poirier-the-best-striker-in-the-lw-history.4190204/

Prime Conor got emasculated by Diaz, Khabib and KTFO by prime Dustin.

 

[MacDiz]

Conor lost interest, lost his motivation, his hunger and drive. $100M will do that to you.

He also became obsessed with boxing and stopped training touch butt in the park™, which made his movement devolve from a fluid, elusive, unpredictable style to a plodding, predictable, mostly stationary style.

Not to discredit the other fighters, who obviously upped their games, but Conor definitely declined massively.

 

[funkjunky]

Conor declined, but more than that, Poirier and Max are MUCH better than they were when they faced Conor for the first time and at that point in time, Conor was already in his prime.

nope just declined and didn't work for extra weight due to all the hookers and coke..he's a scum bag and hated here in ireland but prime vs prime it's not a contest.

he didn't need to stay hungry and develope and it fucked him up