Does current Dustin beat the 2014 version of Conor that he lost to?

[markg171]

It's very easy to win of Conrat if you have the patience and discipline to wait till the 3rd round and don't panic in the first 2.

Literally only 2 fighters have made it to round 3 with Conor. Conor won one of those fights by 5 round decision, meanwhile in the other he won round 3.

 

[CPH]

He won a 5 round fight against a cardio machine Nate Diaz. You can’t call his cardio terrible.
Conor also won round 3 against Khabib, schooled Max for 3 rounds at FW and KOed a gassed out Mendes. His cardio is fine

Conor mauled Diaz in the first 8 minutes, racking up a massive points lead. His performance after that was terrible. Gassed out and running out the clock on several occasions until he was literally saved by the bell.
Max was the same age as Conor was when he was insta-taping to regional fighters. Mendes was a late replacement and Conor finished him inside two rounds. You know all this.

 

[surgeyou1]

Just bad matchup. You can't brawl with a guy with a better chin and more power than you.

 

[surgeyou1]

Conor mauled Diaz in the first 8 minutes, racking up a massive points lead. His performance after that was terrible. Gassed out and running out the clock on several occasions until he was literally saved by the bell.
Max was the same age as Conor was when he was insta-taping to regional fighters. Mendes was a late replacement and Conor finished him inside two rounds. You know all this.

He won the 4th round and the 5th round was even until Nate got the last second trip.

Saved by the bell lol.

 

[snackgod]

Don't even think he does tbh

well the 2020 dustin is bigger than the 2014 conor duh.

 

[Emergency4amBallot]

Both have improved in two totally different areas. Conor's cardio improved a little bit. I was surprised he had anything left in the 3rd round versus Khabib. Although I do thing Khabib took a round off and was sparring his conditioning for the championship rounds. He came into the 4th and had no issues getting Conor down. Conor's grappling has gotten better as well.

Poirier's striking defense got way way better. He doesn't leave himself open to counters near as much as he did back then and his transition to 155 has benefitted him even more so than Conor because he's less chinny than he was at 145. His KO loss to Michael Johnson isn't anything to really judge his chin on because that shot that dropped him would knock damn near anyone out. Johnson is a heavy hitter and that fight was way before Poirier really started to come into his own.

Bottom line, people are sleeping on Poirier here. If Conor doesn't show up in his absolute peak physical condition and Poirier weather's the early rounds and drags Conor into the later rounds, he has a real chance to avenge that loss. It's a lot closer fight today than it was in 2014. Conor will rightfully be a favorite to win, but not by a wide margin.

 

[CPH]

He won the 4th round and the 5th round was even until Nate got the last second trip.

Saved by the bell lol.

Tap dance all you like - majority decision against a guy he knocked down three times in the first two rounds. And he did end the fight on his back, clearly with nothing in the tank as he just got taken down by Nate Diaz.

Great cardio though.

 

[Emergency4amBallot]

It's very easy to win of Conrat if you have the patience and discipline to wait till the 3rd round and don't panic in the first 2.
Just don't throw the right hand against Conrat in the first 2 rounds and you will win by condition. Don't throw when you get pressured at all cost. Move and jab for 2 rounds.

Most coaches do a poor job preparing their fighters against Conrat.

I'm rooting for Poirier here and do NOT like Conor but he's got a lot more than just a straight left counter. His uppercuts are nasty and his ability to set up his punches with kicks are outstanding. He has great sense of range and it doesn't take him long to get his opponent's timing. He won't have to worry about the takedown from Poirier like he did Khabib so he will likely commit to a persistent attack. Diaz never had to threaten a takedown, but he also took a lot of damage before Conor gassed, and THEN Diaz took control. The thing you have to ask yourself is, is Poirier's defense although massively improved, enough to avoid that much damage early on and if not, can he withstand the damage until Conor fades? If the answer is yes, then Poirier will piece him up later in the fight and do him way worse than Diaz did. He would likely not go for a submission and instead beat him down until the ref stepped in. If the answer is no, and he can't even get the fight to the ground and keep it there, Conor is gonna put him away inside of 2 rounds.

 

[surgeyou1]

Tap dance all you like - majority decision against a guy he knocked down three times in the first two rounds. And he did end the fight on his back, clearly with nothing in the tank as he just got taken down by Nate Diaz.

Great cardio though.

He got tripped with like 20 seconds left in the fight. I'm not saying he has great cardio. It's by far his biggest weakness. His ground game is fine for the most part. It's not the main reason he lost to Khabib and Nate.

But that "majority decision" shit was nonsense. It was clear 3-2 Conor, no matter how you scored the 10-9/10-8 rounds.

 

[Dana's Moonface]

Don't even think he does tbh

Lol you know the answer

No fucking chance

Conors, elusiveness, his fluidity, his confidence, his chin, his skills are way above dustin

If he's dedicated and still 90% as good? Dustin won't see a third round

I like Dustin, he has some good boxing, but conor is such a fast starter and will bring the pressure straight to him

 

[Emergency4amBallot]

While I agree that he's made improvements, the kind of brawl he invited Hooker into in the first two rounds is more than likely going to get him Knocked the FUCK out against Conor.

We're really going to have to see a patient Poirier in there. He's got the right tools to cause problems but can he make it long enough to use them. He likely won't win a fight going blow for blow with Conor. Even if it's not his strength he's going to have to try and Wrestle McGregor early and get him tired.

To be fair, I believe Poirier underestimated Hooker going into that fight and knew he could still win with that type of performance. He's fought a way cleaner fight before that fight against higher ranked opponents. I'm pretty sure he knows not to do that against Conor in this rematch.

 

[TR1]

Literally only 2 fighters have made it to round 3 with Conor. Conor won one of those fights by 5 round decision, meanwhile in the other he won round 3.

Incidentally, the same round he cheated his ass off in.

 

[TheWave111]

I'm rooting for Poirier here and do NOT like Conor but he's got a lot more than just a straight left counter. His uppercuts are nasty and his ability to set up his punches with kicks are outstanding. He has great sense of range and it doesn't take him long to get his opponent's timing. He won't have to worry about the takedown from Poirier like he did Khabib so he will likely commit to a persistent attack. Diaz never had to threaten a takedown, but he also took a lot of damage before Conor gassed, and THEN Diaz took control. The thing you have to ask yourself is, is Poirier's defense although massively improved, enough to avoid that much damage early on and if not, can he withstand the damage until Conor fades? If the answer is yes, then Poirier will piece him up later in the fight and do him way worse than Diaz did. He would likely not go for a submission and instead beat him down until the ref stepped in. If the answer is no, and he can't even get the fight to the ground and keep it there, Conor is gonna put him away inside of 2 rounds.

But I think Conor will be like Jon Jones now.
A much slower fighter than he was before.
He doesn't have the movement like in featherweight and he has 2 fights in 4 years.
I don't think he looked that good in the lightweight so far.
Poirier doesn't have to take him down but clinch a lot.