McGregor's ground game in the Holloway fight...

[Docile]

I think his ground game is not very good. Certainly not at that time. Pretty sure he was a BJJ white belt during that fight. Louisiana purple belt Dustin Porier dominated him on the ground and subbed him (Louisiana is a very weak state for BJJ; one of those places where a Brazilian blue belt would probably sub most of their brown belts). Holloway is about as pure of a kickboxer as exists in the UFC right now, though he's young and constantly improving.

Ps. I'm not a Holloway hater. I'm from Hawaii and he's one of my favorite fighters. That's just the reality of his grappling skills at the moment.

Dustin poirier submitted bjj black belts from brazil before entering the ufc, I remember it from his documentary. So quoting the level of the louisiana bjj scene in regards to Dustin is just silly, holloways groundgame was probably above average even at that point despite being submitted after slowing down.

 

[2COATS]

McGregor is a legit brown belch in BJJ. He and Holloway were both hurt in their fight so its hard to gage it based on that fight.

 

[stevenseagle]

I'm sure rematch will Holloway would be different. That being said Connor have decent ground game.

 

[The Judas Pig]

Oh, I didn't know that. His takedowns looked rather effortless though. I know Max Holloway is not exactly elite, but he's a pretty good fighter.

Holloway is fucking awesome, I never miss his fights.

 

[Rozwell]

So people are judging Holloway's ground skills based upon his UFC debut, and fourth fight overall, and judging Conor's based on fights that happened 4 and 6 years ago.

Never change, Sherdog.

 

[Jackonflame]

Max was like 13 yrs old at the time.

 

[Ah Man]

Max was like 13 yrs old at the time.

...had already shut down Dennis Bermudez's grappling, and would tap a talented (albeit reckless) grappler in Andre Fili less than a year later. I'm not saying McGregor is an elite grappler or can necessarily defend against the division's best grapplers, but his ground game is obvious solid. He wouldn't be such a big favorite against Siver, a guy with an excellent takedown and solid submission game, if he hadn't shown that.

 

[pick999]

As for McGregor, he looks pretty clueless on the ground. Unless he's been training BJJ several hours per day regularly since those submission losses, I imagine any high-octane grappler who gets his hands on him is going to have a field day. Can you imagine Frankie Edgar not mauling him from bell to bell like he did against a legitimate grappler in Swanson? Or Mendes not being able to take him down anytime he wants and establish whatever positions he wants? I can't.

 

[Mr WorldWide]

Mcgregor overpowered Holloway badly in that fight.

 

[The Reed]

As for McGregor, he looks pretty clueless on the ground. Unless he's been training BJJ several hours per day regularly since those submission losses, I imagine any high-octane grappler who gets his hands on him is going to have a field day. Can you imagine Frankie Edgar not mauling him from bell to bell like he did against a legitimate grappler in Swanson? Or Mendes not being able to take him down anytime he wants and establish whatever positions he wants? I can't.

Using previous, early in their career sub losses as examples of them currently being clueless on the ground really doesn't work. Holloway got subbed by Poirier(a very solid grappler) in his 4th or 5th fight, Conors losses were also early in his career and he has since looked excellent on the ground.