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I think you may have wandered into the wrong subforum. So much wrong with that post.
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Do you think that he's traded it for strategic reasons, or do you think maybe as he's getting older and had those knee injuries he can't quite bounce like he used to.
Yeah, I think that the Conor McGregor that beat Ivan Buchinger is more or less the Conor we see for the rest of his career with just a few more kicks to allow him to close the distance. I think he's still pretty poor on the front foot and although other posters have argued against that, I've never really heard an argument that compelled me to think I was wrong in that assessment.
I think your assessment is pretty much spot on. Even their first fight was competitive, a lot of guys will try to claim that Conor 'dominated' Holloway but that's really not true.
Someone on reddit described Holloway as 'Diaz with a brain' and I think that comparison is fairly apt.
Do you think that he's traded it for strategic reasons, or do you think maybe as he's getting older and had those knee injuries he can't quite bounce like he used to.
I think you're right about Max too, his performance against Cub is a favourite of mine, I'd argue that Cub has better movement and balance than McGregor, Cub is so fluid and so stable at all times but Holloway made him look pretty rough.
I think it's a bit of both. The Siver fight was the last one where Conor had his bouncy in & out style complete with flying knees & kicks and spinning shit, I believe it was the last fight he had before his most recent knee injury. While he still threw some spinning kicks in later fights, I think it was the last time he threw jump kicks and flying knees.
My theory is the knee injuries and maybe his age forced the initial changes in his style, then the loss to Diaz gave him a clear direction to go towards with the changes that he was making.
I think he's just streamlined his approach. I don't think it's knee issues but I think it might be an issue with trying to maintain his energy levels especially as he went up in weight to 155 & 170 and to focus on landing more significant shots. I mean I could be wrong - who knows.
The reason he probably dropped the constant in/out movement is probably related to energy/stamina issues. You don't often hear it but it eats up a lot of energy moving in/out like that and it's puts a lot of strain on your calves. Even Machida who had an extensive career in sport karate had issues maintaining that movement for the entirety of a fight. It gets harder as you get older.
I think a lot of the fancy kicks he threw didn't really justify the amount of energy he wasted throwing those kicks. The only real success he had with kicking was against Mendes and not to take away from McGregor but as we all know here it's much easier to throw kicks against someone who's out of gas or rapidly on their way to having nothing left in the gas tank. Even here it was one particular kicking technique (spinning back kick) that did the most damage.
He didn't get rid of kicking completely though (he expended a lot of energy throwing kicks against Diaz the first time). He's reduced his kicking repertoire and focused on kicks that supplement his hands and that he has success in throwing (spinning back kick for example).
He's prioritized his strengths which is a smart thing to do. But personally I preferred the older McGregor because he had more versatility with his kicks.
But I mean we all saw him in the Diaz 2 fight throw those really cringy low kicks (at the end of the fight he had difficulty walking) - maybe it's also a longevity/injury issue.
I think he's just streamlined his approach. I don't think it's knee issues but I think it might be an issue with trying to maintain his energy levels especially as he went up in weight to 155 & 170 and to focus on landing more significant shots. I mean I could be wrong - who knows.
The reason he probably dropped the constant in/out movement is probably related to energy/stamina issues. You don't often hear it but it eats up a lot of energy moving in/out like that and it's puts a lot of strain on your calves. Even Machida who had an extensive career in sport karate had issues maintaining that movement for the entirety of a fight. It gets harder as you get older.
I think a lot of the fancy kicks he threw didn't really justify the amount of energy he wasted throwing those kicks. The only real success he had with kicking was against Mendes and not to take away from McGregor but as we all know here it's much easier to throw kicks against someone who's out of gas or rapidly on their way to having nothing left in the gas tank. Even here it was one particular kicking technique (spinning back kick) that did the most damage.
He didn't get rid of kicking completely though (he expended a lot of energy throwing kicks against Diaz the first time). He's reduced his kicking repertoire and focused on kicks that supplement his hands and that he has success in throwing (spinning back kick for example).
He's prioritized his strengths which is a smart thing to do. But personally I preferred the older McGregor because he had more versatility with his kicks.
But I mean we all saw him in the Diaz 2 fight throw those really cringy low kicks (at the end of the fight he had difficulty walking) - maybe it's also a longevity/injury issue.
One thing I'd be interested to see is the way side kicks to the knee impact he fight - because in the first fight McGregor had good success with them until Max Holloway started throwing them back.
Now that Holloway has a style with a lot of lateral movement, I wonder if they'll play a factor or if they'll just end up missing. I haven't really noticed Holloway use them much lately so I'm curious as to whether we see them at all.
I believe you're right. Generally speaking, fighters tend to move towards their core strengths & better efficiency as they mature in their careers, and that fits with what Conor is doing with his style.
Likely won't work well at all with how well Holloway moves these days. McGregor tends to load up a fair bit when throwing the side kick to the knee so it's not a particularly fast kick to begin with, he'll probably have as much luck trying to land it as Jones had against Gustufsson.
I think it's Holloway who will have more success with push kicks to the knee in a rematch. He was having decent success with both the oblique and side kick to the knee against Pettis, and with Conor's more grounded & stationary style these days he'll have more opportunities to land it than before.