Did Conor McGregor Pass the "Wrestling Test"? Highlights / Breakdown by Brendan Dorma

[nostradumbass]

He beat a top wrestler, so I guess that's passing but under no circumstances did he show that wrestling is not a big problem for him. After Chad took him down so easily, I don't see how he would be the favorite against Frankie, who has wrestling, heart for days, and great cardio.

I'm sure the body shots did some damage but can we not pretend that Conor was just doing whatever he wanted and was in total control of that fight and getting ragdolled and beat up was part of his plan? His wrestling was exposed but he weathered the storm and survived and took advantage of Chad's exhaustion. It was a great win for him but if you're a Conor fan, you've got to be pretty worried about Frankie.

 

[Steve08]

Grappling with the #1 ranked FW in the world and escaping from bottom and crucifix, creating multiple scrambles, and not only defending but escaping to your feet from their best submission. Seems pretty top notch to me.

What's your training background?

If the answer is nothing, that's why Conor's ground game seems "pretty top notch" to you...

 

[Pulver-ize]

um,, no.. If Chad had a full camp to get ready and got stuffed i would say yes.. Both went into this fight unprepared.. Conor at least had better cardio,, which came from a full camp.. He has 2 more fights before i drink the kool-aid..

 

[conorbless1]

Aldo showed in his previous fights he's willing to take down people even if he's outboxing them if he finds an opening (Hominick, Korean Zombie, Kenny etc.). Claiming McGregor showed poor TDD because he didn't have the time to prepare for it is most likely dumb, unless they were preparing for Aldo without having seen his fights. Also, I don't believe it, but the pre-fight narrative was that "they were all the same" and that McGregor doesn't adapt his fight camp to fit the style of his opponents.

 

[soulsstealer]

I dont think I have ever seen a fighter gas from strikes to the body in the first round.

 

[bjjwar]

The guy got taken down by Siver like 3 times in 5 minutes.What did people expect?

Of course even an out of shape Mendes would tool him and throw him around like a sack of potatoes.

 

[flight2q]

I guess we would have to see a rematch to find out, but imo grappling like that while having a bad leg injury against the 2nd best FW in the world shows that his grappling is pretty great.

You mean "while having had a bad leg injury".

Oh so when Mendes and Aldo claim injuries it's an excuse. But when McGregor claims he had an injury it's a valid reason for his lack of wrestling and ground game. At least Aldo had some kind of proof he was injured. McGregors proof was "his coach said so".

There were no excuses from the winner in this fight. They said they hadn't known going in whether the leg was 100%, but based on how it performed they believe it was fully healed.

McGregor's wrestling in the match was about as people expected.

 

[Nelly]

Not sure about that. For most his defense is bad after this fight, but they don't even know that Conor was not training to fight a wrestler. Conor was still able to stop some of Mendes TDs, and I know that if he comes prepared to fight a wrestler he will most likely defend every TD or at least get up quickly.

I doubt he will be able to stop TDs like Aldo.

 

[Steveston]

I'm going to try to say this from an unbiased point of view, I'm a Conor McGregor fan but I thought Conor's wrestling defense was good.
Conor stopped a few potential take downs and the most important thing is that he got up to his feet.
Can Conor get taken down and controlled for a bit? Yes he can but at the end of the day he get's back to his feet and finds a way to finish.
If a wrestler was to defeat him It would be in a three round fight.

 

[mysticpotatohed]

I don't think so. He is able to escape if given room but he is not always going to be given the opportunity. Once Chad gassed he was unable to chain wrestle.

 

[GeoffJeff]

Then how do you explain Conor getting back to his feet several times in the first round when Mendes was fresher compared to the second and even escaping a crucifix.

*twice

 

[m22able7]

*twice

Three times to be exact, the first being when he was talking down on the flying, when he popped right back up