i didn't even think conor looked better than dustin when they were on their feet. i guess he had some leg kicks? but he didn't really strike that often or that well.
poirier seems legit pissed that mcgregor said he was going to send poirier out in a coffin or whatever. mcgregor was just hyping the fight yo
the leg kicks sounded like they were pretty good. poirier just said mcgregor hit him "pretty good with a left hand" too
Connor has always been trash. He and the UFC did an unreal job marketing him. He fought a bunch of average fighters and they were forced to put him against Aldo. That complete lucky knockout saved him. Aldo never got a rematch is still bullshit.
100% that’s why i was surprised when people were saying it really wasn’t a loss? He was gassed the fuck out and getting his face pounded again
I bought the fight and the entire McGregor fight my stream did this. As Dustin so eloquently put it Dana can kiss all of my asshole.
From Reddit: Actually, I think it was bending funny before he stepped back. Here is when he planted for his final left hand... slow motion, it popped and looked floppy right before the punch
I've come to really hate McGregor fights just because it's the anti-Conor circle jerk vs the Conor circle jerk. No one watches his fights in an honest impartial manner. Every argument has to be at the extreme ends of reality.
He put himself here and he’s the biggest mma star in the world(ever). People either love him or they hate him and he’s brilliant to have both ends this invested.
First of all, you don't check a kick with your fucking knee. "leg vs. knee, knee always wins" is not a thing. Getting kicked in the knee is a good way to mess your knee up (and also for the kicker to injure their foot/shin/etc.) Bone on bone is not typically desirable for either the striker or the recipient of the strike. Something goofy obviously happened, but these armchair doctors saying "yup, obviously a hairline fracture that was going to fully break eventually" are idiots. Have we ever seen this happen before? A fighter have a hairline fracture that then breaks further and becomes displaced? This was a freak injury, and I'm not sure we will ever really know exactly what happened, but I'm 100% sure a random youtuber doesn't have the inside scoop.
Is it remotely possible that he fractured the leg on those up kicks toward the end of the first round? There was some wild shit going on there for about 20-30 seconds
Definitely possible. The pics earlier of his looking unstable prior to him twisting his ankle makes it looks like something happened prior to that twist. No way to know if it was a check or just some random shit.
Have you ever seen someone put their leg on backwards from just taking a step back? It’s much more likely it was broken before it snapped.
I agree that it was likely compromised at some point, but that's about the extent of what we know. Even when Dustin is saying it was hurt, Conor threw hard kicks after that with that same leg. I wouldn't think he'd be throwing kicks with a fractured leg. But, then again, in that moment those fighters don't really feel pain like normal. So maybe he did continue kicking him with a broken leg, and ultimately the leg was stressed at just the right angle and gave way. I dunno. I'm just saying we are all guessing. Any diagnosis beyond this, especially from someone other than the doctors treating Conor, are kinda of silly.
When I see stuff like this, I’m always amazed there’s not like 2-3 near death KOs a year or something
lolol I agree there shouldve been a rematch and... He would've murdered Aldo again. He was in his prime. Aldo was in a bad spot after that loss anyway. He wasnt the same and 145 was taken over by bigger fighters. Simply his time was done.
I was in favor of a Usman/Masvidal rematch after their first fight, and I feel the same about Dustin and Connor. Even if it isnt popular amongst the fans, I'd rather see a rivalry between two top guys end with a memorable finish. Ill be excited if they do run it back again.
I am not convinced Conor is done yet. He seemed to have a pretty good game plan going into this fight, and was attacking Dustin's lead leg. He was landing those kicks, and they were and would have continued to take a toll. Dustin still won the standup battle, but not by a wide margin, at all. Conor landed shots. Dustin said Conor rocked him with a left. Conor's mistake, obviously, was going for that guillotine. Had he not done that he wouldn't have been on his back half the round, and it would have been a different fight. True, Dustin looked good and the momentum was in his favor. But something similar happened in the Conor-Diaz II fight. In that fight Conor won the early rounds, the Nate came on strong in rounds 3 and 4, pushed the pace, wore Conor out, landed volume, and everyone thought this was it, Conor is done, Nate is going to work him in round 5. But that's not what happened. Conor came out looking fresher, landed the bigger shots, and clearly won that round, to win that fight. So to say we can assume what would have happened based on that one round, I think is a little short sighted. Conor still has power, still has skill, and could have landed a big shot, could have adjusted, could have not gone for any more guillotines, and could have won that fight. And could win if they fight again.
I don't think Conor is done. I just don't think he's ever going to be 155lb champion. FTR - I don't hate Conor. I think he's fallen victim to what every other combat sport mega star has. He may have caught Dustin but those leg kicks he landed pretty clearly cost him the fight. I remember Diaz 2 where he kicked the shit out of Nate and Conor was the one in a wheelchair leaving the arena because his leg was trashed. He doesn't want to kick anyone. I think it's also safe to say Dustin gets stronger as the fights goes and Conor does not.
So Herb let a dude be a human punching bag for 2.5 rds only to call the fight with 30 secs left while dude was still swinging and missed Conor landing upkicks due to blatant cheating right in front of him? Great performance Herb
Pulling gloves to pull someone down for guard or some other type of defensive move is one thing. Using them to pull someone down to kick their head off their shoulders is trash.
Pretty much the opposite of what happened Saturday. Instead of banking a couple rounds early he got smashed in the first, even before the injury.
I agree, I'm not saying the fight was following the exact same trajectory as the Diaz fight, just that judging how "done" Conor was based off of 1 round is a little silly.
So there is now talk that Conor had damaged that leg in training. So much so that he had an x-ray to confirm that there was no break. Also a current theory is that Conor actually broke the leg on a teep kick. He kicks Dustin, Dustin blocks with his elbow, Conor plants that leg, and that's when it goes sideways. It could still have been from that kick to the knee as well though. Or from the previous injury in training. Or a combo of all of that.