McGregor uses those flashy kicks to setup and bait his opponent to rush in so he can tag them with his left, and his boxing in general. He isn't just throwing those kicks to throw them. McGregor has plenty of his own setups for his more significant bread and butter strikes. Aldo didn't look very defensively tight in his last fight, he made a lot of mistakes that would've cost him much more against a guy with Conor's striking skill (Mendes is largely still learning to strike at a high level). McGregor may look easy to hit but he isn't, in fact, he only ate one clean punch from Poirier in his last fight and he wasn't fazed.
Him carrying his hands low gives him some real benefits and helps to bait opponents in that are thinking he'll be easy to hit (it's also easier to grab hooks to stuff a shot with the hands down at your waist). The trajectory of the punches is also different, the angles, and the fact that they rise up from below his opponent's line of vision. There's several benefits to doing this and not keeping the traditional high guard up (Anderson knows of the benefits too). Conor is good at rolling with punches and using his footwork to get out of the way, he knows how to slip and deflect/parry strikes too. I've never seen him hurt by a strike in his career.
