Shoulder strikes....yeah those are legit. I've seen tons of guys doing it...usually when pressing someone against the cage...never have they been effective. Sure, Tony messed up cowboys nose, in red king Lawler fashion, but still. Cowboy comes from a MT background. In a clinch, they are strong fighters. Cowboy could have a) when entering the clinch, he changed levels...could have went td...instead stood up. B) in a close clinch like ot was, a trip. Using his weight to push Conor backwards while using his leg to stop conors from moving to stabalize.. C) MT clinch....a second nature move to a MT trained fighter. Plumb the head, throw knees.
See the only strike cowboy threw was a body kick in the opening seconds...be4 the clinch. After not a single strike at all. A fighter who has many strikes available was so rocked by a shoulder shrug...that he forgot all his years of training, and 51 previous fights..and just stood there like a deer in headlights to get hit.
Conors high kick was actually toes first into the side of head...not a particularly hard strike with toes out...the idea is shin hits or top of your foot...not toes. And I'm sorry, it wasnt a hard solid strike at all. My issue is that cowboy didnt even fight back at all. This strikes me as odd, because of his experience. He has been in 51 fights...yet he does nothing at all but be a punching bag.
It felt to me like he was not fighting back on purpose. I had a theory that it was something he agreed to do, in order to not put any damage on Conor. Who could then step in vs khabib if Tony gets injured. Since dana and Conor both know khabib wont just grant Conor a rematch, especially with 1 win vs a fighter who lost his previous 2 by tko, also the fight being at 170 not 155. Kinda creates a backdoor for Conor to slip into the khabib rematch without having to win legit fights at 155 firs.t.
Yes it's just a theory, and I'm not saying it's TRUE at all...its just a possibility. When I see a veteran fighter like cowboy, even as a "slow starter" not fight back it sticks out. Against tony, he fought back...and Tony was doing far far more damage than Conor did. Cowboy also wasnt upset at all by the loss...like he expected it really. He took minimal damage, even in turtle position, blocking most of the strikes. He never once showed he was on weak legs...even after the supposed damaging shrugs. Yes he bleed, because tony had smashed his nose like 2 months ago...see rory...his nose was never the same..u touch it and he bleeds...
If something happens to Tony, at the last minute, and there is absolutely no one else to step in but conor...it seems awfully convenient. We shall see how it plays out but if it plays out that way, then donald was in on it no doubt. I hope it's not the case honestly. I dont think Conor should be able to just jump over justin. That's another thing, dana and Conor have pretty much said stuff like khabib had already beat tony. Like the fight was already decided. Saying how Conor gets next shot at khabib...not at the belt. But at khabib. Etc.
