Your bias for Conor seems to preventing you from acknowledging imperfections in Aldo's technique.
Why must you insist that "Aldo did everything perfectly"?
He didn't.
Throwing a punch with both feet so close together they are practically touching is not doing everything perfectly.
It seems like you refuse to accept that because you feel like it dimishes Conor's counter. It doesn't. Conor had excellent footwork and control of distance and placed an incredibly precise punch all while moving out of the way just enough to avoid significant damage from Aldo's hook while staying in perfect range to land the left.
All of those things can be true without changing the fact that Aldo having his feet together and moving his head forward in a straight line was not "perfect technique".
Maybe someone can jump in with a third party opinion but I honestly don't see how you could debate this shy of blind nuthuggery.
Im enjoying the civil discussion. Thank you for being civil
Me too. Cheers.
"Head off the center line"
I know I mention that a lot but only because of how incredibly important it is.
Defensive boxing 101
Don't move forward or backward in straight lines with your head on the center line.
The fient to the body is misdirection. It's supposed to occupy the opponent or get the opponent to drop guard and leave up top open.
What do you think Aldo did when he dropped his weight to his left for the left hook (He changed head slots)
Dropping his weight and moving his head off the center line are two different things.
He approached Conor with his head moving in a straight line.
Look at Mendes and then look at Aldo. Mendes entered very similar to vintage Tyson. Low center of gravity with the head moving far off the center from side to side making his head a moving target while creating balance and power with his knees bent and legs wide.
Aldo was standing damn near straight up when Conor hit him, which besides limiting his power limits his balance and his ability to take a shot. Again, NOT perfect technique, which isn't a big deal, even the best fighters make mistakes and take calculated risks, he happened to get caught, and I am only pointing this out because you keep insisting Aldo did everything perfectly.
Lets not take any credit away from Conor's counter KO of Aldo
I never did.
Lateral movement is a defensive measure. Its also to either draw in or to circle an opponent into a shot (which is aided by herding hooks/overhands - even kicks) etc
Then theres going on the offence...stepping around opponents to hit their blind spots, pivoting to change up the angles, forcing opponents to turn to you into your strikes etc
Theres taking the outside angle etc
I agree.
"Lateral movement" has nothing to do with anything here
It really does, in a huge way.
Are you implying that it is pure coincidence that:
A) Mendes used excellent lateral movement, wasn't countered and scored a knockout. (Granted over a lesser fighter).
B) Aldo moved his head straight forward and got knocked out.
Lateral movement 100% matters.
Again I welcome third party opinions here.
Aldo actually took the outside angle. Again do you know that's typically an advantageous position (which can be off set by superior IQ or tactics)
It is generally an advantageous position. If done correctly...
It isn't an advantageous position if you are off balance standing with your feet together with your chin up and hands down.
You can't appreciate the brilliant mastery of Conor's counter until you realise that Aldo did everything right, lead with the right combo, had the outside angle, and that Conor still counter fucked Aldo from the inside angle
Aldo didn't do everything right. I'm fine with the rest off what you say though.
What Aldo did was a relatively small error that he had gotten away many times before but Conor had a perfect counter to capitalize on Aldo's mistake.
Aldo had success with that same combo many times before
That same combo works like magic vs southpaws in boxing
The truth is Conor is the only time where we have seen in a big notable fight a southpaw counter that combo from an orthodox for a counter KO (boxing and MMA)
Conor is just a master operating on another galaxy. You can do all the right things, Conor still wins
I wouldn't trust anything Aldo had to say after the fact btw. Aldo is still bitter about that loss lol. Aldo had/has major sour grapes.
He wasn't "emotional"
He had how many championship fights at that level already?
Aldo was drawn in by Conor's lead hand probing systems/and his side kick to the knee that all in all had Aldo feeling like he had to get past all that and close distance
Aldo has arguably the best leg kicks in MMA lower weight class history. He had the PERFECT tool at his disposal to be effective at long range and mitigate Conor's excellent range striking, he just didn't use it.
Then Conor's push and pull/tempo or rhythm manipulation (the bouncing in and out of range) which further drew Aldo in for the kill
Conor had already executed on the counter steps ahead of Aldo
Conor's left beat Aldo to the punch by miles
Aldo was already unconscious when his left hook fell into Connor. Aldo never landed a single shot on Conor as a conscious fighter.
You want people to be fair to Mendes, but you aren't being fair to Conor on the same level
All I have done is state technical details of the fight, how is that unfair to Conor?
Aldo doesn't need to be perfect for Conor's counter to be great.
A) Conor's counter was incredible.
(As i have already stated)
B) Aldo had his feet too close together and he came forward in a straight line with his head on the center line.
Both statement are true and one doesn't negate the other.
And as I said before, I appreciate the chance to engage in a technical discussion. I hope you make more threads like this.