RDA vs Conor McGregor - Pre-Figth Analysis - Coach Firas Zahabi

[CAPTAlN SPAULDlNG]

So you don't have an actual response. Cheers for the conversation whilst it lasted.

Actually I'm busy at work. I have about 5 things going on at once. I'd love to add a few more paragraphs to the discussion but shit just hit the fan in my unit and I'm pretty sure you're committed to your own opinions as am I so it's kind of pointless. I've ran this fight through my head over a hundred times and I have RDA winning the fight. It's that simple.

March 5th we both get to see.

 

[Jin Akutsu]

Actually I'm busy at work. I have about 5 things going on at once. I'd love to add a few more paragraphs to the discussion but shit just hit the fan in my unit and I'm pretty sure you're committed to your own opinions as am I so it's kind of pointless. I've ran this fight through my head over a hundred times and I have RDA winning the fight. It's that simple.

March 5th we both get to see.

I am committed to seeking the reality of the fight game. I don't see such discussion as pointless. If you do, great. As I said, t'was fun while it lasted. I've ran this fight in my head a myriad of times and see four outcomes in the grand scheme. I would give McGregor the edge.

Best of luck at work. Sucks.

 

[CAPTAlN SPAULDlNG]

I am committed to seeking the reality of the fight game. I don't see such discussion as pointless. If you do, great. As I said, t'was fun while it lasted. I've ran this fight in my head a myriad of times and see four outcomes in the grand scheme. I would give McGregor the edge.

Best of luck at work. Sucks.

It's whatevs mang.

And nah, I love my job. I'm on seventh day double time pay. Being a Process Operator in a chemical plant for a large company pays well. While I'd rather be home barbecuing and chilling with my prego wife, I'm thinking about how fast I'm paying my house off working all of this OT, and it makes it all better.

 

[Money509]

I think if conor doesnt get RDA's respect early hes toast.

 

[Henghist]

I agree with the majority FZ has said only I believe although he rightfully highlighted the Muay Thai kicks of RDA, I feel he is sleeping on the kicks of CM. I would personally put a little more stock in the kicking game of CM due to his Capoeira kicks with his tornado kicks and the push kick he throws has destroyed the engine of former opponent's. My view is if RDA is only concerned by the left hand then he's definitely making an error.

 

[Theproof]

I think I'm in favor of Firas' opinion because it matches what I've already been saying. By him saying it only makes me that more confident that I was onto something. Conor McGregor is effective at what he does early on, but a lot like Vitor, the moment someone weathers the early storm and pushes McGregor, they're gonna have the fight in their hands.

Whether you wanna admit it or not, even though Conor won against Mendes, that fight was very telling to anyone with a functioning brain. Not only could Conor not get up off his back or avoid damage while down there, he looked pretty winded after a 1 1/2 round fight. If the fight stays at RDA's pace, Conor is gonna get drowned and eventually finished. This fight won't go to decision, I would bet whatever on that. It's either Conor by early KO or RDA by 3rd of 4th round TKO on the ground after a beating.

He does NOT want a war of attrition with RDA. This is not even up for debate. It's pretty factual. He will get outmuscled and out worked if this fight goes anywhere past the 2nd round. RDA has too much core strength, unlimited cardio, relentless pace and a 3rd degree BB in BJJ with a solid offensive wrestling game.

We can agree to disagree but I'm picturing a fight that's gonna look similar to Randy Couture vs. Vitor Belfort 3 at UFC 49.

I said this exact thing in the Conor taken to deep waters thread. If Conor doesn't finish RDA Soon h'es in trouble. If RDA lasts that long that means that he would have either already seen Conors stand up long enough to know wether or not he feels comfortable striking with him on the feet or not. At this point in the fight it would either be a close standup battle or Conor would most likey start tiring soon from defensive wrestling. The longer the fight goes the better for RDA because his Cardio has proven already to be insane through 5 rounds of heavy output. He's not slowing down much for sure. If Conor gets to the point where he starts tiring at all in this fight he's in deep trouble.

The only way I personaly see Conor winning this fight is if he either pulls another Aldo or he does what he did to Seaver to RDA which isn't likely because RDA is too dangerous to just be stalked and walked down the whole fight by a non wrestler.

Just my opinion.

 

[Hoop]

Just one thing. The fight between conor and aldo went nothing like Firas described. I'm not disrepecting his view.

I think he throws out a lot of the variables that could happen. I don't think we've even seen a lot of what Conor can do with his striking, never mind grappling.

Dos Anjos and Cordeiro said they're going to drag him into 'deep waters' That sounds more like to me a line from a movie script and if they genuinely attempt to do that as part of their game-plan, it sounds like their version of trash talk.

For all the talk of we haven't seen Conor going 5 rounds and Dos Anjos has - Conor doesn't get down to 145 because he's good at starving himself. Dos Anjos' strength and conditioning coach gets him in prime shape - but Dos Anjos seems like a lot of fighters who get out of shape inbetween fights that have to have a pre camp training regime to get into that condition. Obviously having a family will do that and if he's talking out loud about moving up to WW because of the IV ban/cutting too much weight, it's clearly an issue. That's something we didn't see tested with the Cerrone fight. I'd actually be interested to see it going past 3 rounds for that reason.

 

[CAPTAlN SPAULDlNG]

I said this exact thing in the Conor taken to deep waters thread. If Conor doesn't finish RDA Soon h'es in trouble. If RDA lasts that long that means that he would have either already seen Conors stand up long enough to know wether or not he feels comfortable striking with him on the feet or not. At this point in the fight it would either be a close standup battle or Conor would most likey start tiring soon from defensive wrestling. The longer the fight goes the better for RDA because his Cardio has proven already to be insane through 5 rounds of heavy output. He's not slowing down much for sure. If Conor gets to the point where he starts tiring at all in this fight he's in deep trouble.

The only way I personaly see Conor winning this fight is if he either pulls another Aldo or he does what he did to Seaver to RDA which isn't likely because RDA is too dangerous to just be stalked and walked down the whole fight by a non wrestler.

Just my opinion.

The only thing that would surprise me in this fight other than Conor going full NCAA D1, would be if this fight somehow goes to the judges. Either Conor ends it in the 1st or he starts fading under RDA's relentless cardio and pace and eventually sucums to a TKO or perhaps a sub somewhere around 3rd or 4th round. In my opinion, Conor will gas hard and be defenseless if he can't get an early finish. Either way, I don't see it going the distance.

 

[Faceplanter]

I agree with the majority FZ has said only I believe although he rightfully highlighted the Muay Thai kicks of RDA, I feel he is sleeping on the kicks of CM. I would personally put a little more stock in the kicking game of CM due to his Capoeira kicks with his tornado kicks and the push kick he throws has destroyed the engine of former opponent's. My view is if RDA is only concerned by the left hand then he's definitely making an error.

Yeah, Conor's left hand is the focal point when there's much more to his striking game than just it. Conor's front snap whip kick using the ball of the foot to the gut did Mendes in. His spinning back kick cracks pretty good too and is dangerous, which he also landed on Chad. He likes using lowline sidekicks and other such kicks to keep distance as well, something Zahabi also didn't cover, since Conor's range control is very good. I wouldn't be surprised if he threw his lead (right) hand more in this fight to get RDA's attention to distract him from his left hand, since he knows that RDA will definitely be expecting the left and concerned mostly with it.

 

[CAPTAlN SPAULDlNG]

I agree with the majority FZ has said only I believe although he rightfully highlighted the Muay Thai kicks of RDA, I feel he is sleeping on the kicks of CM. I would personally put a little more stock in the kicking game of CM due to his Capoeira kicks with his tornado kicks and the push kick he throws has destroyed the engine of former opponent's. My view is if RDA is only concerned by the left hand then he's definitely making an error.

Pettis's kicks are more dangerous than Conor's kicks. Pettis finishes guys with his kicks, Conor's kicks hurt but he's not really setting the world on fire with them either. They're flashy and just another addition to the McGregor mind game in my opinion.

RDA was able to completely nullify Pettis' kicking game for two reasons.

1.) He stayed close enough for Pettis to not be able to launch them.

2.) Pettis had to worry about the takedown.

These are both factors that Conor will have to deal with as well. This leaves me to believe that Conor will have to stick to his boxing exclusively. Both Firas and myself agree full heartedly on this. Can Conor score a KO with RDA being in close? Maybe, it's not out of the realm of reality. But my money says Conor is gonna have to rely on his boxing and leave the kicks in the locker room for this one.

 

[Jin Akutsu]

Yeah, Conor's left hand is the focal point when there's much more to his striking game than just it. Conor's front snap whip kick using the ball of the foot to the gut did Mendes in. His spinning back kick cracks pretty good too and is dangerous, which he also landed on Chad. He likes using lowline sidekicks and other such kicks to keep distance as well, something Zahabi also didn't cover, since Conor's range control is very good. I wouldn't be surprised if he threw his lead (right) hand more in this fight to get RDA's attention to distract him from his left hand, since he knows that RDA will definitely be expecting the left and concerned mostly with it.

 

[Hoop]

The only thing that would surprise me in this fight other than Conor going full NCAA D1, would be if this fight somehow goes to the judges. Either Conor ends it in the 1st or he starts fading under RDA's relentless cardio and pace and eventually sucums to a TKO or perhaps a sub somewhere around 3rd or 4th round. In my opinion, Conor will gas hard and be defenseless if he can't get an early finish. Either way, I don't see it going the distance.

I think what it will go down to is, who is the more intelligent fighter. The thing with Dos Anjos I've found more impressive is how he adapts in fights. With Henderson he showed he has power. He didn't get in to a slug fest with Diaz - simple things like using leg kicks to keep him at distance. Pettis he did the unexpected and traded with him from the off and that was the fight I think also where people were impressed with how his gas tank was near the same level at the end of the fight as it was at the start. Cerrone he caught flush around the liver area and went to town on him.

I thought during those fights he showed improvement in parts of his game he'd have been flagged for being weak in the past with - more so with his striking. It's hard to see what he can add that hasn't been seen before in such a short space of time. His bread and butter is closing the distance, while Conor is good at controlling it. I think it could turn into a Bull v Matador type style of fight.

 

[CatchnShoot]

Just one thing. The fight between conor and aldo went nothing like Firas described. I'm not disrepecting his view.

Well, NOBODY 'cept trolls and the Hype artist formerly known as Conor McGregor would've ever predicted a 1 punch KO 13 seconds into that fight.
And Conor would only predict such to rustle some jimmies. Did you not notice the look of shock on Conor's mug at the end of the Aldo fight?? He can talk all the shit he want's, there's no way in hell he expected the fight to go down like that, and neither should anybody else that follows the sport.

You can't predict luck bruv.

 

[jtruelove]

I think he is down playing McGregor's kick boxing a bit. Comparing him to Hendo is a bit too much, Hendo is too predictable and that is something Conor isn't.

And I also don't know if Conor's power will really fade late in this fight, we don't really know that for sure since his fights never go the distance. These lighter weight divisions have fighters who seemingly can go on for days without apparently losing too much of their power.

With all that said, if (when) RDA takes Conor McGregor down, things will be a lot worse than they were against Mendes. His BJJ will force Conor to work a lot harder to defend himself, he will more things to think about with RDA on top than he had with Mendes.

With all that said, many of the things we say Conor will have trouble dealing with against RDA were also true for Jose Aldo.

 

[Faceplanter]

Pettis's kicks are more dangerous than Conor's kicks. Pettis finishes guys with his kicks, Conor's kicks hurt but he's not really setting the world on fire with them either. They're flashy and just another addition to the McGregor mind game in my opinion.

RDA was able to completely nullify Pettis' kicking game for two reasons.

1.) He stayed close enough for Pettis to not be able to launch them.

2.) Pettis had to worry about the takedown.

These are both factors that Conor will have to deal with as well. This leaves me to believe that Conor will have to stick to his boxing exclusively. Both Firas and myself agree full heartedly on this. Can Conor score a KO with RDA being in close? Maybe, it's not out of the realm of reality. But my money says Conor is gonna have to rely on his boxing and leave the kicks in the locker room for this one.

Conor has shown more effective linear/straight kicks than Pettis has while Pettis has the better lateral/round kicks. Pettis has more dangerous kicks but Conor's can add up quickly and allow him to set up his boxing as well. They're not just flashy, as he proved in the Mendes fight. He was landing spinning back kicks (to the chest and ribs) and front whip kicks to the gut at will, one after the other.

Pettis was crowded by RDA to take away his space to kick but even that isn't foolproof. Conor will only need his feet set for a split second to launch a spinning back kick or jump spinning back kick, as he's been drilling to use against RDA in at least one video. His TKD instructor is holding the pad and pressing forward, crowding him, where Conor pushes off of him with his forearm to create enough space to launch his jump spinning back kick. You don't necessarily need to push off the aggressor who is pressuring to take away optimal kicking range at all if you can throw a spinning back kick as quickly as Conor can, since your feet only need to be set for a split second to do it.

Here is Conor drilling what I just described



In an actual fight he'll be going all out for speed and not just drilling the technique, so it'll be much faster than in practice. At a major US university his spinning back kick was tested and his hips were clocked at a rotational velocity of about 800 degrees per second, which is insanely fast, and only two or three tenths of a second slower than his jab. This was faster than Vitor Belfort's spinning back kick that knocked Rockhold out and faster than Rory McIlroy's golf swing, who held their previous record of around 720 (IIRC) degrees per second in angular velocity.

If a fighter takes away your space to kick then you either attempt to take it back long enough to launch the kick or you launch the kick immediately once your feet are able to be momentarily set, even if you only have a split second to do it. So, pushing a kicker back by crowding them is very effective but it isn't foolproof and you'd have to be on them so tight you'd have to give them no way of getting any space at all to spin and kick when only very little space is needed even in tight close quarters. Conor won't have to leave his kicks at home, especially not ones he uses that are aimed at the legs to help him control distance (ie., his lowline sidekick, oblique kicks etc). Aldo ate a lowline sidekick seconds into their fight and he's a lot quicker than RDA is. The aggressor/pursuer also risks getting caught hard on the way in to closing the gap and a spinning back kick can at the very least hurt them and can knock a fighter out when it's aimed to either the head or body especially if they run onto it.

 

[CAPTAlN SPAULDlNG]

Conor has shown more effective linear/straight kicks than Pettis has while Pettis has the better lateral/round kicks. Pettis has more dangerous kicks but Conor's can add up quickly and allow him to set up his boxing as well. They're not just flashy, as he proved in the Mendes fight. He was landing spinning back kicks and front whip kicks to the gut at will, one after the other.

Pettis was crowded by RDA to take away his space to kick but even that isn't foolproof. Conor will only need his feet set for a split second to launch a spinning back kick or jump spinning back kick, as he's been drilling to use against RDA in at least one video. His TKD instructor is holding the pad and pressing forward, crowding him, where Conor pushes off of him with his forearm to create enough space to launch his jump spinning back kick. You don't necessarily need to push off the aggressor who is pressuring to take away optimal kicking range at all if you can throw a spinning back kick as quickly as Conor can, since your feet only need to be set for a split second to do it.

Here is Conor drilling what I just described



In an actual fight he'll be going all out for speed and not just drilling the technique, so it'll be much faster than in practice. At a major US university he was tested and his hips were clocked at a rotational velocity of about 800 degrees per second which is insanely fast, only two or three tenths of a second slower than his jab. This was faster than Vitor Belfort's spinning back kick that knocked Rockhold out and faster than Rory McIlroy's golf swing, who held their previous record of around 720 (IIRC) degrees per second in angular velocity.

If a fighter takes away your space to kick then you either attempt to take it back long enough to launch the kick or you launch the kick immediately once your feet are able to be momentarily set, even if you only have a split second to do it. So, pushing a kicker back by crowding them is very effective but it isn't foolproof and you'd have to be on them so tight you'd have to give them no way of getting any space at all to spin and kick when only very little space is needed even in tight close quarters. Conor won't have to leave his kicks at home, especially not ones he uses that are aimed at the legs to help him control distance (ie., his lowline sidekick, oblique kicks etc). Aldo ate a lowline sidekick seconds into their fight and he's a lot quicker than RDA is. The aggressor/pursuer also risks getting caught hard on the way in to closing the gap and a spinning back kick can at the very least hurt them and can knock a fighter out when it's aimed to either the head or body especially if they run onto it.

All I had to do was see your screen name to know not to even bother to read that wall of shit text.

Pettis' kicks >>>>>>>>>>>> Conor's kicks

I would MUCH rather take a Conor kick than a flush Pettis kick.

 

[CatchnShoot]

All I had to do was see your screen name to know not to even bother to read that wall of shit text.

Pettis' kicks >>>>>>>>>>>> Conor's kicks

I would MUCH rather take a Conor kick than a flush Pettis kick.

Yeah...

That's like me saying all I have to do is look at your username and av to know you're a fucking clown.

Well, maybe you have a point, maybe you don't.... get back to work chumly.

 

[CAPTAlN SPAULDlNG]

Yeah...

That's like me saying all I have to do is look at your username and av to know you're a fucking clown.

Well, maybe you have a point, maybe you don't.... get back to work chumly.

Nice yellow cards chum. I see you're going places, lol.

 

[Faceplanter]

All I had to do was see your screen name to know not to even bother to read that wall of shit text.

Pettis' kicks >>>>>>>>>>>> Conor's kicks

I would MUCH rather take a Conor kick than a flush Pettis kick.

Again, Pettis' kicks are more dangerous and his lateral kicks are better but his linear kicks are not. You should read the post to learn something for a change before you're banned for the tenth time.

 

[CAPTAlN SPAULDlNG]

Again, Pettis kicks are more dangerous and his lateral kicks are better but his linear kicks are not. You should read the post to learn something for a change before you're banned for the tenth time.

You don't know me, so it's funny you suggest I was ever banned. I'm from a different forum where I WAS banned there. But that's neither here nor there. I've lurked here long enough to know that your MMA knowledge is poor at best and you let a whole lot of bias show in your analysis.