How good is Conors Jujitsu/grappling skills?

[Coconutwater]

Most brown belts are no where near as committed to training as he is. But you’re entitled to your opinion and obviously the very top brown belts are just waiting on their promotion and can win in tournament bjj. That’s the top guys on their way to black. But the average brown belt with legit lineage is almost certainly well below conor on the mat.

With no strikes and restarts? Straight jiu Jitsu? Against legit browns (but not elites)? I’m still not convinced, particularly if the browns are competitors but necessarily world class. Competition guys have enough conditioning, coordination and accuracy to stop Conor in straight BJJ. (Some easily IMO.)

What makes Conor dangerous, is in MMA, the fence, glove gripping, the threat of elbows and punches, reduce the amount of jiu Jitsu required and streamlines it so he can fight toward his strengths, mainly getting back up, striking and not getting subbed. I’m not convinced of his offensive BJJ which is part of BJJ, which is why he’s a purple in my eyes. That said, people are given browns and blacks and have defensive games, but in theory, brown belts and above should have reasonable offense, something I’ve never seen Conor do in any environment. To Conor’s credit, lots of legit browns would get killed on bottom in an mma atmosphere, which shows great expertise at that one critical aspect, movement and defense. But again, the brown feels high to me against other legit browns (but not elite browns as that’s unfair).

Legit purple though. Khamzat just got his purple....

 

[kflo]

With no strikes and restarts? Straight jiu Jitsu? Against legit browns (but not elites)? I’m still not convinced, particularly if the browns are competitors but necessarily world class. Competition guys have enough conditioning, coordination and accuracy to stop Conor in straight BJJ. (Some easily IMO.)

What makes Conor dangerous, is in MMA, the fence, glove gripping, the threat of elbows and punches, reduce the amount of jiu Jitsu required and streamlines it so he can fight toward his strengths, mainly getting back up, striking and not getting subbed. I’m not convinced of his offensive BJJ which is part of BJJ, which is why he’s a purple in my eyes. That said, people are given browns and blacks and have defensive games, but in theory, brown belts and above should have reasonable offense, something I’ve never seen Conor do in any environment. To Conor’s credit, lots of legit browns would get killed on bottom in an mma atmosphere, which shows great expertise at that one critical aspect, movement and defense. But again, the brown feels high to me against other legit browns (but not elite browns as that’s unfair).

Legit purple though. Khamzat just got his purple....

Most browns in the situations you’ve seen conor in would fare much worse. Judging him negatively relatively to an average bjj brown belt based on those few situations against mostly elite grapplers and mma fighters seems intellectually lazy. Almost none of them have to assess their offense against strikes.

 

[dildos]

No good.

He tapped to khabib of all people...

 

[Coconutwater]

Most browns in the situations you’ve seen conor in would fare much worse. Judging him negatively relatively to an average bjj brown belt based on those few situations against mostly elite grapplers and mma fighters seems intellectually lazy. Almost none of them have to assess their offense against strikes.

All I’m saying is Conor would get heel hooked in straight grappling match at brown belt at a mid level tournament. I can see it happening and predict it would happen. Yes he can fight, and yes he’s a better grappler than given credit for, but brown belt? Khamzat just got his purple... someone who already had the basics of submission grappling beforehand. I’m saying he’s probably missing 1/2 the belt requirement from a techniques standpoint, not as an MMA fighter. It’s like Bob Sapp clocking Ernesto Hoost, that doesn’t mean he’s the better puncher.

Conor is great at avoiding trouble in MMA, very difficult I get it...but that ain’t no brown belt in my eyes, which is why someone didn’t just hand Khamzat or Jon Jones their colored belts immediately upon entering their academies, even though, they’d probably kill 99% of anyone they fought with, not — grappled with.

 

[markg171]

All I’m saying is Conor would get heel hooked in straight grappling match at brown belt at a mid level tournament. I can see it happening and predict it would happen. Yes he can fight, and yes he’s a better grappler than given credit for, but brown belt? Khamzat just got his purple... someone who already had the basics of submission grappling beforehand. I’m saying he’s probably missing 1/2 the belt requirement from a techniques standpoint, not as an MMA fighter. It’s like Bob Sapp clocking Ernesto Hoost, that doesn’t mean he’s the better puncher.

Conor is great at avoiding trouble in MMA, very difficult I get it...but that ain’t no brown belt in my eyes, which is why someone didn’t just hand Khamzat or Jon Jones their colored belts immediately upon entering their academies, even though, they’d probably kill 99% of anyone they fought with, not — grappled with.

Who just handed Conor his belt? He's been training with Kavanagh since 2008, who promoted him to brown belt in 2014. He's also been with Danis since 2016. Neither have promoted him further.

If anything the timeline shows that they're both being careful NOT to promote him. At 12 years of grappling overall and 6 as a brown he'd likely be a black if he were anybody other than Conor McGregor.

At this point it's most likely purely his name holding him back as neither wants to make him black until they feel he's unlikely to ever really be outgrappled again.

 

[YEET]

I would say Conor is good on the ground.

- Holloway he showed great all around grappling skills and top position.
- Mendes, he got a nice reversal after being outwrestled which led to the TKO.
- Diaz 1, I recall him sweeping him in round 1. Round 2 he almost got the same reversal as the Mendes fight. Watching the Gracie breakdown they said Diaz had the perfect counter. My opinion he gave up the RNC cause he knew being TKOd would look horrible his image.
- Khabib, did about as well as the rest of his opponents. Overpowered and a step behind on the mats.

 

[dragovic]

Connor's grappling and ground work is still shit even if trains another decade in it. He has to untrain everthing he knows and start over. You can't teach a "tournament level" bjj or grappling at this time.

Clown. Tell me what he needs to unlearn and then learn?

 

[Switch Blade]

Clown. Tell me what he needs to unlearn and then learn?

Khabib will tell you 15 times and over if they fought each other. You cannot learn your way to an excellent grappling if you just decide to. It starts when you're 5 yrs old.... wrestling little bear cubs all the way to wrestling bad ass human-bears through tournaments. Your Conner will always be number 2 at best! now who's the clown, you or connor?

 

[Mage]

Looked alright against Khabib in the first round, but he used up too much energy for just defending.

Yeah cheating the entire time.Holding the shorts, gloves, fence. Watch the first round. Thats the only reason it took a while for Habib to put him on his back. As soon as Herb intervened and physically removed Conors arm from Habibs shorts he immediately fell on his back.

 

[randomg1t]

Conrad’s BJJ brown belt is equivalent to Rashad Evans’ black belt...it’s just handed to them

Conrad is at most a purple belt on the mat

lol at thinking rashad evans is not on the level of a black belt.

 

[kflo]

All I’m saying is Conor would get heel hooked in straight grappling match at brown belt at a mid level tournament. I can see it happening and predict it would happen. Yes he can fight, and yes he’s a better grappler than given credit for, but brown belt? Khamzat just got his purple... someone who already had the basics of submission grappling beforehand. I’m saying he’s probably missing 1/2 the belt requirement from a techniques standpoint, not as an MMA fighter. It’s like Bob Sapp clocking Ernesto Hoost, that doesn’t mean he’s the better puncher.

Conor is great at avoiding trouble in MMA, very difficult I get it...but that ain’t no brown belt in my eyes, which is why someone didn’t just hand Khamzat or Jon Jones their colored belts immediately upon entering their academies, even though, they’d probably kill 99% of anyone they fought with, not — grappled with.

Again, if you don’t think conor outgrapples the MAJORITY of brown belts in existence around his size I think you’re very wrong. Purple belts? C’mon.

Yes, there are some elite competition brown belts on their way to black who may be able to tap most other brown belts. It’s not really a fair standard to measure whether someone is a legit brown belt. Using khamzat as a standard again is silly. He’s not your typical purple belt.

 

[randomg1t]

All I’m saying is Conor would get heel hooked in straight grappling match at brown belt at a mid level tournament. I can see it happening and predict it would happen. Yes he can fight, and yes he’s a better grappler than given credit for, but brown belt? Khamzat just got his purple... someone who already had the basics of submission grappling beforehand. I’m saying he’s probably missing 1/2 the belt requirement from a techniques standpoint, not as an MMA fighter. It’s like Bob Sapp clocking Ernesto Hoost, that doesn’t mean he’s the better puncher.

Conor is great at avoiding trouble in MMA, very difficult I get it...but that ain’t no brown belt in my eyes, which is why someone didn’t just hand Khamzat or Jon Jones their colored belts immediately upon entering their academies, even though, they’d probably kill 99% of anyone they fought with, not — grappled with.

jon jones got his blue belt after submitting like 3 black belts in MMA because he doesn't train with a gi and tussa apparently wanted to promote him according to IBJJF rules. pettis got his blue belt too after winning a UFC title fight via armbar against a legit black belt in henderson.

i mean on one hand, fine, promote them gradually like other people. on the other, they aren't fucking blue belts.

what most people here fail to realize is that the vast majority of top fighters in the UFC either hold a black belt in jiu jitsu, or they're at a level of someone who does. just because jon is officially a blue (or purple, or whatever the fuck) doesn't mean that some brown belt should be better than him, or that conor somehow isn't a legitimate brown belt because of it.

people think that only black belts are good at BJJ, that getting submitted means you can't be a black belt, or that a black belt like jacare is the same as one like GSP. the MMA community would really benefit by just training. anyone who spends 6 months at a gym stops talking shit about brown belts like conor real quick.

 

[gatorbear]

Edgy Brah says decent - huge if true

 

[mudrubble]

Striking aside, how good is his jujitsu skills. I know John was the first Irish BJJ black belt and so I assume he is probably Conors original BJJ mentor. But aside from that, has he competed in grappling matches? Did he have a pure wrestling/judo/sambo/submission coach outside of BJJ?

I'm not a grappler but I thought Khabib would take him down at will and easily rearrange his face to where he literally COULD NOT TALK TRASH anymore in public. Instead he defended TDs, and avoided damage on the bottom and got out of that fight with barely a scratch on his face. Khabib's opponents rarely look that good when he's done with them.

So he's def way better than I thought if I'm being honest.

 

[Tylerlikesmma]

Hatred warps a lot of your opinions on this subject. Grappling is obviously his weaker side, but he held Khabib off a lot better than many others.

he’s at least a B rated defensive grappler

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Striking aside, how good is his jujitsu skills. I know John was the first Irish BJJ black belt and so I assume he is probably Conors original BJJ mentor. But aside from that, has he competed in grappling matches? Did he have a pure wrestling/judo/sambo/submission coach outside of BJJ?

Conor subs gordon ryan, marcelo garcia, and roger gracie on the same night with and with out a gi... blindfolded... in their gaurd.. twice... in a handicap 3 on 1 match.

 

[Wonderfight]

Its good enough when he's fresh.

Best explanation possible. Real solid when when his mind and body is on it.

 

[suizuri]

it's not bad, actually. he had relative "success" in stuffing khabibs takedowns which i didn't really expect (especially in round 1 when he almost got on top of khabib. that being said, no one really can stop khabib anyway) and he did relatively well against mendez (although conor's height advantage then definitely helped give him leverage too). i think his ground game is not that special, but it's also somewhat underrated.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Striking aside, how good is his jujitsu skills. I know John was the first Irish BJJ black belt and so I assume he is probably Conors original BJJ mentor. But aside from that, has he competed in grappling matches? Did he have a pure wrestling/judo/sambo/submission coach outside of BJJ?

 

[kflo]

Charles Oliveira has been submitted 3 times. Can we assess his bjj / grappling based on that fact?