Is it possible that Conor is a better wrestler than he is leading people to believe?

HAWTRIDDUM

HAWTRIDDUM

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noticed something interesting on Ricky Lundells IG page which I will get to.

For those of you not familiar with Lundell, he is a 3rd degree black belt under Pedro Sauer, 2 time champion at wrestling world championships, which is managed by United world wrestling, which oversees all wrestling at the olympics.
He was recruited by Cael Sanderson to wrestle for D1 school Iowa State at the age of 15, despite having zero folk or traditional wrestling experience, only submission grappling experience.
He went on to win the USA world team trials and became a 3X champion at the international submission wrestling world championships.
He has also trained with and trained quite a few UFC fighters over the years including Mir, Browne and Rousey.

Now that we have established his credentials in wrestling and bjj, I noticed in a post on IG that he mentioned defeating John Kavanagh in the finals at the wrestling world championships 11 years ago. Kavanagh also commented on the picture.
I found that surprising considering that Kavanagh is only known as a bjj grappler from the Machado lineage.



To make it to the finals of world championships must mean Kavanagh has to be a very accomplished wrestler.

Is it possible that Kavanagh has poured his knowledge into Conor’s skill set over all the years he has trained him, but they are purposely holding back until they had to face someone like Khabib?

Fighters like Holly Holm have claimed to use such tactics in the past, where she said she purposely fought conservative until she faced Rousey. Hard to say if true, but her and winklejohn said it.

Just found it interesting because I wasn’t aware that Kavanagh had a background in wrestling, let alone competed in world grappling championship finals.
 
He is a better wrestler than people give him credit for but he is no where near Khabib's or even Kevin Lee's level.
 
HAWTRIDDUM said:
You read all that in 15-20 seconds?
Click to expand...

I was like

tumblr_newyuuJxk51tt9lf5o1_400.gif
 
It's possible but there is no evidence for the argument. I Doubt his ground game is even average but his stand up is so good no reason for him to hit the canvas. His entire ground game is based off of TDD, or so it seems to me
 
Holly Holm went back to fighting conservatively after the Ronda fight as well. Excellent tactic. I think you may be on to something TS.
 
Slatersan said:
Holly Holm went back to fighting conservatively after the Ronda fight as well. Excellent tactic. I think you may be on to something TS.
Click to expand...
As I said, Holm and her coach said it, not me.
 
he tried to panic wrestle floyd in a boxing match. No.
 
Is it possible Khabib is a much better striker than he’s led to believe?
 
YOLOGOGOPLATA said:
It's possible but there is no evidence for the argument. I Doubt his ground game is even average but his stand up is so good no reason for him to hit the canvas. His entire ground game is based off of TDD, or so it seems to me
Click to expand...

His TDD is what I’m thinking of primarily.

I realize everyone on sherdog thinks Khabib is unbeatable, and Conor will never match his wrestling, but I wonder if his TDD abilities may be better than people realize.

Most of sherdog base his grappling on when he was completely rocked and gassed against Diaz or when he was trying to fend off takedowns from Mendes with one stable knee.
 
You typed a lot, many words, yet you basically said nothing. You are fantastic at wasting people's time. I wanted to pay you some sort of compliment after your effort. As ridiculous as it was.
 
HAWTRIDDUM said:
His TDD is what I’m thinking of primarily.

I realize everyone on sherdog thinks Khabib is unbeatable, and Conor will never match his wrestling, but I wonder if his TDD abilities may be better than people realize.

Most of sherdog base his grappling on when he was completely rocked and gassed against Diaz or when he was trying to fend off takedowns from Mendes with one stable knee.
Click to expand...
Oh I absolutely think his take down defense is Aldo/Woodley level. You're correct that he falls apart when his gas tank fails. When he is fresh he stops the take down and picks guys apart with his boxing. Khabib will test this theory more than any of his previous opponents (if it happens) IMO
 
his wrestling would be alot better if he had a decent gas tank. Kebab murders him unless Conor KOs him in the 1st two rounds
 
HAWTRIDDUM said:
noticed something interesting on Ricky Lundells IG page which I will get to.

For those of you not familiar with Lundell, he is a 3rd degree black belt under Pedro Sauer, 2 time champion at wrestling world championships, which is managed by United world wrestling, which oversees all wrestling at the olympics.
He was recruited by Cael Sanderson to wrestle for D1 school Iowa State at the age of 15, despite having zero folk or traditional wrestling experience, only submission grappling experience.
He went on to win the USA world team trials and became a 3X champion at the international submission wrestling world championships.
He has also trained with and trained quite a few UFC fighters over the years including Mir, Browne and Rousey.

Now that we have established his credentials in wrestling and bjj, I noticed in a post on IG that he mentioned defeating John Kavanagh in the finals at the wrestling world championships 11 years ago. Kavanagh also commented on the picture.
I found that surprising considering that Kavanagh is only known as a bjj grappler from the Machado lineage.



To make it to the finals of world championships must mean Kavanagh has to be a very accomplished wrestler.

Is it possible that Kavanagh has poured his knowledge into Conor’s skill set over all the years he has trained him, but they are purposely holding back until they had to face someone like Khabib?

Fighters like Holly Holm have claimed to use such tactics in the past, where she said she purposely fought conservative until she faced Rousey. Hard to say if true, but her and winklejohn said it.

Just found it interesting because I wasn’t aware that Kavanagh had a background in wrestling, let alone competed in world grappling championship finals.
Click to expand...


Pre-ACL injury Conor looked like GSP. Say what you want about his guard, but the rest was very impressive for a young fighter that didn't have a wrestling or grappling background.

He's dedicated a lot of time over the past few years to grappling, seemingly pretty much exclusively outside of the Mayweather fight. I think there's definitely a possibility we see a level of grappling we've never seen before when he comes back.
 
YOLOGOGOPLATA said:
It's possible but there is no evidence for the argument. I Doubt his ground game is even average but his stand up is so good no reason for him to hit the canvas. His entire ground game is based off of TDD, or so it seems to me
Click to expand...
Not average? Silly..
 
YOLOGOGOPLATA said:
Oh I absolutely think his take down defense is Aldo/Woodley level. You're correct that he falls apart when his gas tank fails. When he is fresh he stops the take down and picks guys apart with his boxing. Khabib will test this theory more than any of his previous opponents (if it happens) IMO
Click to expand...

His TDD doesn't have to be that level. If it was that level Khabib wouldn't have a shot in hell. However, if it's Iaquinta/Barboza level, it should be good enough. All he needs to do is get into exchanges with Khabib, and his boxing will help him keep him off more like Iaquinta's did. Conor obviously is much better than both though.
 
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