Is Conor McGregor a COMPLETE martial artist?

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At this point he's a really good unorthodox sprawl n brawl type fighter with a passable ground game and an ace up his sleeve if he lands that left just right. But he's not the game changing revolutionary martial artist people were making him out to be. (He is changing the game in terms of marketability but I'm talking strictly fighting skills/attributes).
 
He's skilled enough to be very wealthy and skilled enough to be a world champion and there's only a handful of men who can say the same.
 
When he shot in for a takedown against Nate, it looked like some straight up WWE shit where he was setting himself up to get piledrivered.

As if that wasn't bad enough, when he gave his back to Nate, he trapped his own right arm.

just lol.

we wont even get into the lack of technique in his kicks. I've been saying it for years, dude kicks like a white belt. McNuggets laughed at me, but recently even Saenchai came out to say pretty much the same thing. seriously, he throws a front kick while hunching forward with his base leg all bendy.

Dude's a puncher who used his reach and power well against smaller dudes. Props to him for accomplishing as much as he did with all the limitations.
 
First off, I apologize for ANOTHER McGregor thread, move along if you dont care for it.

But yes or no, and why? Just really interested in both sides of the argument here.

Order UFC 196 and see for yourself.
 
First off, I apologize for ANOTHER McGregor thread, move along if you dont care for it.

But yes or no, and why? Just really interested in both sides of the argument here.
have you ever seen him fight before?
 
I wasn't the biggest fan although I enjoyed his fights for the first half of his career. GSP was the only martial artist I would consider complete. He wasn't the absolute best in any area but he was so good at all core aspects of mma that more often than not that negated anything the opposition could do (ie his wrestling would knock their striking down a peg or two so he could overtake them).

Anderson Silva was good on the feet, in the clinch, and on the ground, but his wrestling was always horrible. Chael proved it in their first fight. (I'm speaking relative to the rest of high level ufc fighters and not joe average)

Fedor seemed pretty well rounded too, not as much as GSP but in his prime I would say he was up there, technically not as much but that might be more because of weight class and reliance on power and the lower the weight class you go that typically means you're having to use more things to stay out of trouble as your opponent is faster and has more stamina.

Most other successful MMA Fighters even at the highest levels have at least one glaring hole in their game, they were just good enough to ensure it never went there. For example if someone has horrible jiu jitsu their wrestling was so good they would hardly if ever be on their back against a high level jiu jitsu player.

In Mcgregors case I think it would be more beneficial to him to just work on either his wrestling or jiu jitsu, but it seems like he doesn't have a natural inclination towards jiu jitsu like he does boxing. I think it would benefit him greatly to hire an american wrestling coach. European MMA Fighters are mostly known for their poor wrestling ability. Judging from his frame he probably doesn't have as much raw physical strength has he has a tall range type body, he has power in his hands but that's different from what you would need to use to sprawl, however his sense of timing and distance in combination with footwork and his low stance he uses a lot would play really well into a sprawl and brawl style of fighting if he were to split up his camp and spend half his time at sgb and half at aka, greg jacksons, or somewhere similar. (I would also suggest team alpha male but clearly with his history with them that doesn't make it very likely hence why I left it out)
 
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I wasn't the biggest fan although I enjoyed his fights for the first half of his career. GSP was the only martial artist I would consider complete. He wasn't the absolute best in any area but he was so good at all core aspects of mma that more often than not that negated anything the opposition could do (ie his wrestling would knock their striking down a peg or two so he could overtake them).

What about Jon Jones and Mighty Mouse? GSP had great wrestling and striking but I'm not sure I'd call him the most complete without subs and some might also consider finishing ability part of completeness.
 
If he lost his left arm, he'd be a fence post.
 
He's a complete something, but not a martial artist...
 
What about Jon Jones and Mighty Mouse? GSP had great wrestling and striking but I'm not sure I'd call him the most complete without subs and some might also consider finishing ability part of completeness.

Mighty Mouse is certainly up there, but I'd like to see how more of his career plays out. He is a cut above the rest of the flyweight division but aside from Joe B I haven't been all that impressed with the level of competition he has faced in comparison to say someone like GSP. Although out of all the people I didn't mention I would say he is also impressively technical as well.

People knock Fedor for fighting cans, and depending on which part of his career you look at, that can be true or untrue based upon where and when but seeing him against Big Nog and how much time he spent wailing on him and not getting submitted in guard in combination with his obviously good stand up I feel confident in saying he understood more than just the basic principles of grappling.

Jon Jones hasn't been on his back and almost got submitted by Vitor who isn't exactly known for his high level submission game. I'm not debating who is the best or who would win in a fight. Jon does a lot of unorthodox things, which are highly effective mind you, and he can get away with them because of his reach (it's at least a large factor in most of the techniques he uses) I'm merely speaking on overall technical ability in each individual area of mma. I would say Jon is very effective, I wouldn't argue however that he has highly impressive striking defense or high level footwork.
 
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They don't have to be? He has a fantastic boxing game, his kicks are just great at maintaining distance.

Fantastic boxing game? He might as well chop off his right arm, because he doesn't use it anyways.
 
complete'ish = he's complete but his ground game is ish...
 
He has a complete boxing game. Saying he has only a left straight just because it's deadly means you're too salty to really watch his fights.

Man, you're really sipping that kool aid aren't you?
 
What about Jon Jones and Mighty Mouse? GSP had great wrestling and striking but I'm not sure I'd call him the most complete without subs and some might also consider finishing ability part of completeness.

Jones, GSP, and Fedor are all well rounded imho while I have to give GSP the edge slightly but Mighty Mouse is untested due to limited competition but seems decent to me while fighters like DC and Hendricks are good but lack decent technical striking.

Anderson Silva has very good perfected striking and BJJ but never was complete and has huge handicap in his game which is his wrestling
 
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