McGregor's bad grappling

[n.diazismylife1999]

... is a myth.

I see comments about Conor's shitty ground game all the time, yet what are those comments based on? Not facts, that's for sure. He made a BJJ black belt, Brandão, look like an amateur on the ground. Mendes couldn't get anything done against him; the second Chad tried to do something other than hugging, McGregor escaped.

He got subbed twice, yes, but those were a long time ago. Recent evidence simply doesn't support the claim that his grappling sucks. In TUF, all of the grappling experts on his team were impressed by Conor's ground game. And more importantly, there's this:

http://www.the42.ie/ryan-hall-november-6-2015-2431127-Nov2015/

“Not only did I get the opportunity to roll with Conor, but I was very impressed,” said Hall. “I think people don’t realise how much ability he has and I was pleasantly surprised by his level of skill and level of composure. Those things don’t always go hand-in-hand; sometimes you get someone who’s very skillful in one area but when you get them out of their comfort zone they’re not complete.

“But Conor’s a fantastic martial artist and I was very, very impressed. He trains very diligently and he puts in those hours. Jose Aldo is a fantastic fighter and a very high-level jiu-jitsu guy but the gulf between them on the ground is not what people might think. Not at all.”

 

[bigpunch]

Even if his grappling is good, I don't think it's Diaz good.

 

[wisdom blows]

They are judging it from Chads ability to control him from top, but we have seen plenty of good grapplers stifled by a top wrestler.

 

[86'd]

Alright, when Chad got him on his back why was Chad able to pass his guard effortlessly?

Why did Conor just hold on ala the old days of fighters like Baroni rather than having an active guard?

Why was there no attempts or usage of a butterfly guard to get himself back to his feet?

Why where there no sweep attempts?

Chad fucked up by getting over zealous for that arm triangle rather than focusing on keeping positioning which allowed Conor back up. That shit's not gonna fly against a guy like RDA

 

[Phronimos]

Ben Afflick says what?

 

[MechMA]

Conor owning Brandao isn't good argument.
A bigger stronger more athletic brown belt will usually give a smaller black belt problems.
Dont forget that GI is very different so hearing "black belt" in mma can mean very different things.

Conor has an underrated ground game but the only time we have really seen him on the ground longterm he was getting owned by Chad.

 

[rurouni]

Conor is good at avoiding subs and a good ground game but I was really impressed when Diaz subbed Junior Assuncao and jim miller

 

[Death By Samson]

Wasn't he on his back begging for a stand-up in the Mendes fight?

 

[86'd]

The best thing McGregor could do for himself, (because it's obvious the biggest hole in his game is fighting off his back) is study Robbie Lawler from Frank Trigg on. Watch all the escapes Robbie has (primarily all out of the butterfly guard) and drill those regularly.

 

[smallbets]

He looked like a blue belt against Chad but im sure he has improved since then.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

I'm certainly not saying he's done anything massively impressive on the ground. My main point is that it's too early to either praise or talk shit about his ground. Absolute elite level wrestlers/BJJ people will have an advantage over him, but speculating that he'd get wrecked by them because of his shitty grappling is just absurd. The truth is we don't know how good his grappling truly is. There is the Mendes fight (where Mendes didn't have a camp and Conor says he couldn't train properly for it due to his ACL), but it's not enough to make any definitive judgements in either direction.

 

[carrythezero]

... is a myth.

I see comments about Conor's shitty ground game all the time, yet what are those comments based on? Not facts, that's for sure. He made a BJJ black belt, Brandão, look like an amateur on the ground. Mendes couldn't get anything done against him; the second Chad tried to do something other than hugging, McGregor escaped.

He got subbed twice, yes, but those were a long time ago. Recent evidence simply doesn't support the claim that his grappling sucks. In TUF, all of the grappling experts on his team were impressed by Conor's ground game. And more importantly, there's this:

http://www.the42.ie/ryan-hall-november-6-2015-2431127-Nov2015/

Mendes elbowed and punched the shit out of his face repeatedly. You need to watch the fight again.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

Mendes elbowed and punched the shit out of his face repeatedly. You need to watch the fight again.

Barely did any damage.

 

[Death By Samson]

Conor is good at avoiding subs and a good ground game but I was really impressed when Diaz subbed Junior Assuncao and jim miller

Agreed. Subbing Jim Miller was an impressive accomplishment.

 

[Tedarch82]

Alright, when Chad got him on his back why was Chad able to pass his guard effortlessly?

Why did Conor just hold on ala the old days of fighters like Baroni rather than having an active guard?

Why was there no attempts or usage of a butterfly guard to get himself back to his feet?

Why where there no sweep attempts?

Chad fucked up by getting over zealous for that arm triangle rather than focusing on keeping positioning which allowed Conor back up. That shit's not gonna fly against a guy like RDA

Well said,100% true.Dont forget him repeatedly asking to be stood up as well.A wrestler with good stamina would lay and pray him all day,when he burst on the scene I wondered why Guida wasn't answered when he called him out.I know why now

 

[Giovanefugazza]

I would not think that Ryan hall, who is best buddies with Gunnar Nelson, would come out and shit all over Mcgregor after training with him.

I honestly don't know, Mcgregor's takedown defense looked ok untill he faced a wrestler

As for fighting of his back, he exploded at the right time to escape the guillotine, but that is literally all he could no.

sure it is not a embarassement to be outgrappled by Chad Mendes, but let's not pretend like that fight was a fluke and his grappling is actually excellent.

He did a awesome pass to mount against Siver, BJ Penn style, which was pretty good, it is his bottom game that might lack efficency.

 

[Tedarch82]

Barely did any damage.

Where did the gaping cut come from then?

 

[Dionysos]

Alright, when Chad got him on his back why was Chad able to pass his guard effortlessly?

Why did Conor just hold on ala the old days of fighters like Baroni rather than having an active guard?

Why was there no attempts or usage of a butterfly guard to get himself back to his feet?

Why where there no sweep attempts?

Chad fucked up by getting over zealous for that arm triangle rather than focusing on keeping positioning which allowed Conor back up. That shit's not gonna fly against a guy like RDA

Because it was a 5 round fight, and McGregor wasn't going to waste the energy in the early rounds while a gassing Mendes was just lying ontop of him. He was patient and waited for the easy escapes and then murdered him.

 

[Higgins2Waite]

Mendes elbowed and punched the shit out of his face repeatedly. You need to watch the fight again.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

Where did the gaping cut come from then?

Getting cut from an elbow =/= doing a lot of damage.