What could Conor McGregor have done differently against Khabib to secure a win?
Here is the bottom line on the reality of Conor McGregor versus the mythology that seems to have grown up around the promotional aspects of his fights.
Conor McGregor is a fantastic fighter, but he’s not now, nor really has he ever been a dominant force at lightweight. Conor “made his bones” in MMA essentially cutting massive amounts of weight and fighting as an oversized 145 pounder. In that weight class – yea he was mauling people.
Conor has only really had 3 opponents at lightweight, and that’s Eddie Alvarez, Nate Diaz and Khabib.
The Alvarez fight was a stellar performance by McGregor, but in it’s proper context it should be viewed as an ideal matchup for him. Alvarez is a beast, but he’s got some of the worst boxing in the sport – for someone with Conor’s timing and range, exposing Alvarez was a walk in the park. Then along came Nate – and suddenly Conor’s left hand didn’t seem as devastating as it appeared at 145 pounds. And Nate can box. The result was an exhausted Conor getting choked out.
We’ve all seen the Chad Mendes highlight – end of the fight, Chad taking a knee and Conor teeing off – but that wasn’t the story of the fight at all – Chad was controlling Conor seemingly at will. And Chad is tiny – easily fights at 145 and could cut lower probably. Chad took the fight on 2 weeks notice, and basically just gassed himself – and once he got tired Conor finished it. A good finish, another good performance but really he beat a smaller guy who didn’t train – and it took him multiple rounds to do it.
The big jump came with Aldo. Thats was the fight that made Conor. Aldo was the best in the world and seemingly unstoppable, and Conor taunted him mercilessly. And then when the fight rolled around and Conor dropped him in 13 seconds it appeared as though all the hype was warranted. All the talk he backed it up and he became an overnight superhero lauded as having “dynamite in his hands”. But again – looking at it objectively – Aldo was flustered. He was rattled by Conor’s mind game and went in there angry – he charged headlong straight into a counter that Conor had specifically practiced for months. These are 4 oz. MMA gloves, and Conor is a highly skilled striker. The shot landed clean and the rest is history – but this wasn’t a true test – this wasn’t a fight really – it was one mistake with dire consequences – we thought we learned something about Conor, and we didn’t really.
Khabib is a different animal. He is bigger, he is stronger, he has more endurance, and he is more skilled. He is not on Conor’s level of striking – but he is competent enough in his boxing that he can manuever himself to where he needs to be with an elite striker – he can handle it. He also has a solid chin, contrary to alot of doubters – he took Barbosa’s spinning back kick to the neck/jaw, he ate a Michael Johnson hook, and he walked through multiple shots from McGregor without wobbling. On the ground, Khabib is without peer in his division. The difference standing up between Conor and Khabib is substantial but measured. The difference on the ground between Conor and Khabib is … well… they might as well be engaged in two different sports.
In truth, the 5 biggest fights in McGregor’s career were Aldo, Nate, Nate 2, Mayweather, and Khabib. He is now 2 wins-3 losses in those fights, and the most popular fighter in the world right now hasn’t won anything in 2 years. His skills are top shelf, his confidence is unmatched – he is smart, sharp, quick and athletic – but his stamina is lacking, he has not demonstrated real KO power against true 155 pounders, he is not proficient on the ground, and in truth I don’t think he really has anything for Khabib or Ferguson for that matter.
If he can still do it, his best MMA bet would be to go back to cutting to fight smaller guys and dominate. Otherwise I think what we’re looking at is a gatekeeper Conor, a perennial top 5 guy, who falls just short of really being able to deal with the apex predators at lightweight, namely Kbabib and Tony, maybe even Pettis too.
What could he do differently? Not much … I mean the answer is at all costs, avoid the takedown – easier said than done. Maybe he could have just put it all on the line, and blown his wad pushing aggressive striking in the first round or two and hope to really wobble Khabib, but it’s hard to do when you rightly fear the shot coming. Khabib is just better, and Conor’s not getting younger.
What’s it like to be knocked out in an MMA Fight?
Interviewer: Anderson Silva, what is worse, getting knocked out in the UFC or giving 200 interviews explaining why it happened?
Silva: Getting knocked out I guess.
Interviewer: Is it worse than people asking about it? Like I’m doing again and again and again…
Silva: No no, there will always be questions. Fans, people, they want to know what happened, but being knocked out is worse because you can’t remember. There is just a blackout, and then when you wake up you’re like, “Uh? What Happened? The fight is over?” And the ref says, “Yeah, it’s over and you lost.” “But how?” Then the ref says, “you got knocked out” “BUT HOW?” The ref then answers, “You took a big shot and fell to the mat.”
Interviewer: Lights out? Do you even feel the pain?
Silva: No, you don’t feel anything. You will only feel it later, and there is that old motto, ‘cry on the bed because it’s warmer’.
What does human flesh taste like?
Back in the 1920s, one man set out to provide a detailed record of the societies that devour human flesh – and went so far as to taste it himself. American adventurer William Buehler Seabrook wrote of his experiences in his book Jungle Ways, published in 1931. His description is as follows:
It was like good, fully developed veal, not young, but not yet beef. It was very definitely like that, and it was not like any other meat I had ever tasted. It was so nearly like good, fully developed veal that I think no person with a palate of ordinary, normal sensitiveness could distinguish it from veal. It was mild, good meat with no other sharply defined or highly characteristic taste such as for instance, goat, high game, and pork have. The steak was slightly tougher than prime veal, a little stringy, but not too tough or stringy to be agreeably edible. The roast, from which I cut and ate a central slice, was tender, and in color, texture, smell as well as taste, strengthened my certainty that of all the meats we habitually know, veal is the one meat to which this meat is accurately comparable
The account follows his travels in West Africa, where he spent time with the Guero people, and joined them as they feasted on human meat.
Why are rich people more successful in court than poor people?
The problem is that my clients don’t enjoy the advantages of a well groomed lifestyle. Half of them don’t even know what I mean when I say “dress nice for trial tomorrow when the jury first sees you.” They think that means show up in jeans with their shirt tucked in, and if they know what kinds of clothes I’m talking about, odds are they can’t afford those ones. They don’t have impeccable hair cuts or nice things, and juries see that. The clients aren’t as relatable.
Their lack of education and lack of emotional training for a serious, quiet environment is a huge handicap as well. They may freak out at me in the middle of trial, talk or scribble on their notepad loudly, grab my shoulder a lot, speak under their breath when the jury’s in the room. When they testify, it tends to go one of two ways: (1) their grounded, simple sincerity wins the day, or (2) they give the prosecutor the kitchen sink by admitting to anything asked of them, true or not, or by trying and inevitably failing to outsmart a prosecutor who has 7+ more years of formal education and 20 years of experience under their belt.
Well before trial, those educational and cultural gaps between myself and the client cause problems. They don’t trust me as much; they often don’t respect me as much. They don’t bother prepping their case with me. I can’t explain complex concepts and expect them to understand after a few tries. A lot of the time explaining the way the law works will make them act out with anger, because they are not used to dealing with bad news quietly and constructively. They will make bad decisions in the lead-up to the case that leave us with handicaps before the trial even starts.
Then there’s the fact that the judge treats them very differently from a wealthier client. The judge knows what the jury often doesn’t: that this man has a long record, that he’s got experience in the system, that he hasn’t learned his lessons from past wrongs. Judges treat people with records very differently than they treat wealthy white people with no criminal record who grew up in the suburbs and have their teary-eyed parents watching from the pews. They don’t give my clients the same benefit of the doubt they might give a wealthier person in a suppression hearing or an evidentiary motion in limine. It’s very subtle, but it’s noticeable. And they’re definitely going to treat my client differently than a wealthier defendant for a sentencing after they’ve been convicted. That’s where it may hurt more than anything. It’s not just the priors and mandatory minimums that will fuck my clients — it’s also the fact that they don’t have the support structures at home to succeed on probation or keep their life in tact following a serious sentence.
None of this is to say that there aren’t also related issues with wealthier clients. Wealth isn’t a guarantee of intelligence or emotional maturity by any means. But I mean, come on — if I’m in a vacuum, having a medical doctor or a banker for a client is going to be a fucking cakewalk compared to having a homeless veteran with 20 things on his record. The doctor might be a headache of an entitled client, but he knows what way is up and how to act in a professional setting, to best reduce the chances that his trial blows up for reasons not related to the actual evidence against him. He’s not going to be sending the signals that trigger the subtle implicit biases judges and prosecutors walk through the door with everyday.
– NurRauch
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