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Having originally watched Conor v Diaz in a Sydney bar alongside hundreds of loud, drunken Irishman, during my live viewing there was definitely a lot of things I missed [And judging by many of the threads on the fight, I think most people would benefit from a rewatch as well. So I'll list my misconceptions I had while watching the fight live:
1.) I thought Conor dominated the first. The reality: He didn't. He was struggling to find his range throughout the entire first round. At the three minute mark through to the four minute mark he landed heavy, and did just enough to win the round.
2.) I thought Diaz was wobbled in the first: At no stage in the first was Diaz ever rocked. Watching live, the blood made Diaz appear to be in more trouble than he ever was. In fact, if you watch the round as a whole, Conor 'just' edged it… Only just.
3.) I thought the second round was all Diaz. I was wrong. For the first two minutes in the second Conor landed heavy. Far heavier than in the first. In fact, I believe this was the biggest turning point, he landed huge shots for two straight minutes that might have hurt Diaz, but they didn't come close to putting him away…
4.) I thought Diaz rocked Conor leading to the gassing. I was wrong. It was the other way around. Conor visibly drained himself after trying to finish Diaz in the first two minutes. From that point onwards, he was flat footed, lacked movement, and gave up the distance control. From there it was game over… Had it gone on longer Conor would have been stopped via strikes.
Small things I picked up [That I didn't originally]:
While a full camp will help Diaz, it will also help Conor. Anyone who has read my posts will see that I've been giving Conor a lot of shit. That being said, for all the Conor fans out there, it was clear that he had no game plan for Diaz. To elaborate:
- Conor used very little teeps to the body, instead opting for high energy, head hunting shots.
- From the opening second, you can tell he had no plan on closing the distance. He was 'lunging' much like Aldo 'lunged' in their title fight.
- Kavanaugh gave some terrible coaching. At the end of the first, he said: "The right uppercut is there"… This lead to Conor using an extreme amount of energy to push for a low probability shot… It didn't pay off. Instead he should have advised him to maintain distance with the teeps [Especially with the knowledge that nobody finishes Nate Diaz]. I'm not a coach, and no doubt Kavanaugh has greater knowledge of the sport, but that line baffled me.
The TLDR: Obviously there will be a rematch somewhere down the line. If Conor brings his current game plan he is going to lose 10/10 times [He was never really in control - Which was my initial thoughts watching live]. To beat Nate he needs to take a lesson from Anderson Silva. Control distance, minimise energy output, check your ego and understand that you probably won't put Nate away and prioritise shot selection. Originally I didn't think Conor would have much hope in a rematch, but he does have the tools, he just needs to implement them.
Anyway… That is all.
1.) I thought Conor dominated the first. The reality: He didn't. He was struggling to find his range throughout the entire first round. At the three minute mark through to the four minute mark he landed heavy, and did just enough to win the round.
2.) I thought Diaz was wobbled in the first: At no stage in the first was Diaz ever rocked. Watching live, the blood made Diaz appear to be in more trouble than he ever was. In fact, if you watch the round as a whole, Conor 'just' edged it… Only just.
3.) I thought the second round was all Diaz. I was wrong. For the first two minutes in the second Conor landed heavy. Far heavier than in the first. In fact, I believe this was the biggest turning point, he landed huge shots for two straight minutes that might have hurt Diaz, but they didn't come close to putting him away…
4.) I thought Diaz rocked Conor leading to the gassing. I was wrong. It was the other way around. Conor visibly drained himself after trying to finish Diaz in the first two minutes. From that point onwards, he was flat footed, lacked movement, and gave up the distance control. From there it was game over… Had it gone on longer Conor would have been stopped via strikes.
Small things I picked up [That I didn't originally]:
While a full camp will help Diaz, it will also help Conor. Anyone who has read my posts will see that I've been giving Conor a lot of shit. That being said, for all the Conor fans out there, it was clear that he had no game plan for Diaz. To elaborate:
- Conor used very little teeps to the body, instead opting for high energy, head hunting shots.
- From the opening second, you can tell he had no plan on closing the distance. He was 'lunging' much like Aldo 'lunged' in their title fight.
- Kavanaugh gave some terrible coaching. At the end of the first, he said: "The right uppercut is there"… This lead to Conor using an extreme amount of energy to push for a low probability shot… It didn't pay off. Instead he should have advised him to maintain distance with the teeps [Especially with the knowledge that nobody finishes Nate Diaz]. I'm not a coach, and no doubt Kavanaugh has greater knowledge of the sport, but that line baffled me.
The TLDR: Obviously there will be a rematch somewhere down the line. If Conor brings his current game plan he is going to lose 10/10 times [He was never really in control - Which was my initial thoughts watching live]. To beat Nate he needs to take a lesson from Anderson Silva. Control distance, minimise energy output, check your ego and understand that you probably won't put Nate away and prioritise shot selection. Originally I didn't think Conor would have much hope in a rematch, but he does have the tools, he just needs to implement them.
Anyway… That is all.
