Just watched Poirier vs Hooker

[Rajon Rondo]

Different style of fight than Conor's first fight with Dustin. Hooker likes to fight in the pocket and tries to walk you down so the Hooker fight was spent mostly fighting in the pocket because Dustin is strong in the pocket as well with his hook combinations on the inside.

Conor usually fights from long or mid range and was counter Dustin in the first fight. But Conor has abandoned a lot of his movement once he started bulking up and fighting at 155 and 170. He stopped training with his movement coach and after the Floyd fight adopted a more boxing orientated stance and striking approach. He's more stationary and planted now and tries to walk down slowly now instead of using in and out movement like he used to.

So this fight can end up being fought a lot in mid range or on the inside where Dustin can find some success if he doesn't get put out early from a counter. Dustin seems more durable after moving up in weight so he may not be as easy to put away as their first fight. Dustin has shown toughness in the later rounds that has won him fights in the past and Conor is known to fade in the later rounds.

Dustin is a live dog in this fight and can't really use their last fight to judge the outcome of this upcoming fight. Size is different and fighting styles are different between the 2 from when they originally fought. Dustin focused on his boxing heavily after the Conor loss.

Conor got knocked out in the pocket with Poirier LOL

 

[FIghtxIQ]

Conor got knocked out in the pocket with Poirier LOL

I always knew Dustin had the advantage in the pocket, the finishing combination he did in the pocket highlighted his boxing strength inside the pocket. Same reason he was able to beat Max and Hooker.

I knew if Conor couldn't finish it in the first round the fight would start going in Dustin's favor. Dustin knows how to slow things downs and get a second wind, and Conor tends to panic and chase a KO until he completely empties his gas tank.