I appreciate conor's skill even if I think his latest behavior is bankrupt . But the dude is a fine martial artist. I thought maybe he'd be past his prime and can't beat top oppononents but with the way the LW picture has changed this year, I'm not so sure anymore. I think he can win an LW title again. Its funny how that shakes out. Before gaethje-tony, I thought tony would outpace him make conor tired, thought it would look like diaz-mcgregor 1. Tony gets lit up by gaethje for 4 and half rounds. Now tony may not be the same tony ever again.
Then I thought Dustin could beat Conor is a rematch having moving up to LW and his latest run minus khabib, than I saw dustin against hooker, someone he should have dusted away but got in a war. Conor has the precision that Hooker has, plus he's a better anti-grappler than hooker.
Then I thought gaethje could do it, but then I think about conor's karate stance and his angles that will throw Justin off. As much as Justin talks about distance control, conor is better at that. Conor is great at being there, than not being there
You mean like this?
Joking aside, I do agree with you though. As
@Dana's Moonface knows I find Conor a loathsome cretin, but I have changed my mind about his chances Vs Tony, Justin, and Dustin. He should probably be a favourite over all of them. I once thought just like you, if Diaz could drown him with pressure and cardio, the superior Tony surely would. Who is - boxing aside - flat out better than Diaz, or at least, was better than Diaz.
But yeah, Tony appeared to be done against Justin. Either done, or a combination of overlooked him + bad style matchup. But I think being already past prime, plus that hellacious beating, he is probably done now, I doubt he is top 3 in the division anymore tbh. I think Dustin would probably dust him at this point.
As for Justin, he's looked good and much improved, but ultimately he's basic and beatable, and couldn't even beat Eddie Alvarez. I sincerely couldn't believe the amount of people picking him over Kebab. "He really has the style to beat him bruh!". Styles schmyles, he lost to Eddie fucking Alvarez. It was obvious he was nowhere near Kebab's league and the fight showed that.
Dustin has the best chance of beating Conor. I actually think Conor's performance against Kebab is overrated, and Dustin's underrated. Conor basically fought to survive, like a journeyman, cheated, did zero damage, and got tapped easily. Despite getting finished quicker, Dustin got some solid licks in, and managed to choke Kebab a bit.
Ultimately though I'd have to make Conor a slight favourite, Dustin has a habit of going the Erik Morales route of making fights much harder than they should be, the Hooker fight being a prime example, and even the Max fight to some extent. Plus Conor would have a huge mental edge, Poirier seems susceptible mentally, admitted it after their first fight, and of course that is bolstered by Conor already having a pretty easy win.
Having said that, who knows how good Conor is at this point, hard to tell from beating the shell of Donald "Let me find the nearest spot to lay down" Cerrone. Wouldn't surprise me at all if Poirier batters him.
I still think his power is incredibly overrated at 155 too. If he fought more big solid 155ers like Kebab, it would become more evident.
Conor would beat Justin and Tony, and I give him a slight edge over Dustin. I am intrigued for that matchup.
