Pic of Conor today

[BarryMazzagatti]

In all seriousness, major setback for McGOAT, but this is as productive of a loss as you could have gotten. He learned he can effectively strike against bigger guys. If you get clipped and hurt, you can't just continue to stand in the pocket. The same mistake GSP made against Serra. You can't bulk up and expect your cardio to hold up. You can't go into the first round and throw heavy bombs over and over again expecting an easy first round finish, especially against guys like Nate who have granite chins...if you do and fail to finish you will gas out. I expect a much smarter less bulky Conor when he fights again at lightweight or above.

Conor Bless

 

[KONE]

All those striking lessons he supposedly learned from the Diaz fight will do fuck all for him next time a skilled BJJ guy gets on top of him.

He was completely fucking lost on the ground.

 

[prikoke]

Why do you think he was bulky? He weighed in at 169 which isn't that much. He also looked light on his feet in the beginning of the fight.

 

[Sexy Jesus]

Here's Nate this morning:

 

[Flabby 6 pack]

In all seriousness, major setback for McGOAT, but this is as productive of a loss as you could have gotten. He learned he can effectively strike against bigger guys. If you get clipped and hurt, you can't just continue to stand in the pocket. The same mistake GSP made against Serra. You can't bulk up and expect your cardio to hold up. You can't go into the first round and throw heavy bombs over and over again expecting an easy first round finish, especially against guys like Nate who have granite chins...if you do and fail to finish you will gas out. I expect a much smarter less bulky Conor when he fights again at lightweight or above.

Conor Bless

Hope so, he needs to learn his lessons and improve and I believe he will do because he has that mentality but we'll see.

 

[Anthony7]

Not too many fighters would be willing to move up two weight-classes on a weeks notice, let alone a World champion.

Props to Conor for going for it, he did have a solid first round.

How quickly he panicked and tapped when he had to face some adversity is concerning though.

 

[BarryMazzagatti]

All those striking lessons he supposedly learned from the Diaz fight will do fuck all for him next time a skilled BJJ guy gets on top of him.

He was completely fucking lost on the ground.

hate to say it, I agree with Chael that Conor saw the writing on the wall and looked for a way out. Him looking horrible on the ground was him being hurt badly and being gassed. Very much like the Mendes fight, I don't see this as some evidence of Conor being horrible on the ground.

 

[Mga223]

panic wrestler Conor > unmotivated penn

 

[KazaamBR]

 

[PrinceOfPain]

There's a limit to how much further he can go without a groundgame.

He has like a negative groundgame.
I think training with Conor is actually making Gunnar a worse grappler.

 

[KONE]

hate to say it, I agree with Chael that Conor saw the writing on the wall and looked for a way out. Him looking horrible on the ground was him being hurt badly and being gassed. Very much like the Mendes fight, I don't see this as some evidence of Conor being horrible on the ground.

He was swept, had his guard passed, got mounted, gave his back and was submitted in a matter of 5 seconds. I've rarely seen someone look so incredibly helpless on the ground. It's a pretty clear hole in his game.

 

[thewhiterooster]

conor and his fans seem to hang on to this "bigger guy" excuse. nate weighed in at 169 and conor at 168. silly excuse. a better excuse is only having two weeks to train for a fight

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

He looked fine at the beginning of the 2nd round. He got hit hard once and started folding immediately.

 

[BarryMazzagatti]

He was swept, had his guard passed, got mounted, gave his back and was submitted in a matter of 5 seconds. I've rarely seen someone look so incredibly helpless on the ground. It's a pretty clear hole in his game.

yeah, did you not read my post. He was gassed and hurt very badly from strikes. Hard to defend yourself against a very good BJJ guy like Nate when you're seeing stars.

 

[KONE]

yeah, did you not read my post. He was gassed and hurt very badly from strikes. Hard to defend yourself against a very good BJJ guy like Nate when you're seeing stars.

He was hurt to the point where he was useless on the ground? Yeah, I don't think so.

Mendes beat the fuck out of him on the ground on 2 weeks notice too. His ground game is objectively shit.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

Meanwhile, conor himself was mocking nates's small frame, conor's fans were talking about how he is going to be an animal now that he is eating steaks and not cutting to 145 anymore.

Now it's all about - oh, the size was too much, nate was too big, blah, blah, blah!

He learned what it's like to take on guys in his natural weight class in the UFC.

I guess its back to salads and huge weight cuts.

 

[BarryMazzagatti]

conor and his fans seem to hang on to this "bigger guy" excuse. nate weighed in at 169 and conor at 168. silly excuse. a better excuse is only having two weeks to train for a fight

Nate is several inches taller with a longer reach. Size isn't entirely based on weight

 

[Toxxus]

In all seriousness, major setback for McGOAT, but this is as productive of a loss as you could have gotten. He learned he can effectively strike against bigger guys. If you get clipped and hurt, you can't just continue to stand in the pocket. The same mistake GSP made against Serra. You can't bulk up and expect your cardio to hold up. You can't go into the first round and throw heavy bombs over and over again expecting an easy first round finish, especially against guys like Nate who have granite chins...if you do and fail to finish you will gas out. I expect a much smarter less bulky Conor when he fights again at lightweight or above.

Conor Bless

The cardio issue wasn't really the weight, imo. They both weighed in at under 170 and that puts them in the typical weight-cut range of a normal LW bout. What happened was Conor was trying to force the KO in the first round and gassed himself slinging full power shots into Nate's adamantium skull.

Conor is no wizard on the ground, but the way Nate just glided into mount and then beat the brakes off him showed that he was too exhausted to do anything.

I expect Conor will work on his cardio harder after this. Losing by fatigue is positively infuriating. Nate talks a lot about his slow start and need to warm up, but I don't think it was a coincidence that he suddenly "warmed up" right around the time Conor started gassing.

And that's not taking anything from Nate. Nate was clearly miles ahead on the ground and despite soaking nearly 40 shots to the dome he started that victory in the standup.

 

[kazama]

Pic of Jon Anik Today

 

[BarryMazzagatti]

He was hurt to the point where he was useless on the ground? Yeah, I don't think so.

Mendes beat the fuck out of him on the ground on 2 weeks notice too. His ground game is objectively shit.

you've clearly never been rocked before and been gassed at the same time. I've lost superior positions based on exhaustion alone. I can't even imagine being rocked at the same time.