Was that Dustin's strategy all along? Take off Conors front lead leg?

[ClosetVitorFan]

Because as the fight went on, I was like ughhhh Conors shin looks like fucking shit. It was getting redder and more swollen as time went on. He took out the leg. That took away conors power and speed and just yeah, game over. I gotta say tho. CONNOR looked physically amazing. His legs looked crazy muscular. His condition looked good. Dustin just simply had a better plan to heat Connor. Even threw in some grappling. Good fight IQ from Dustin. Solid win.

 

[Deleted member 546119]

Conor looked the best he ever has

Dustin is just the better more versatile fighter

The better fighter won yesterday

 

[I WILL CUT YOU]

It's a solid strategy for anyone who uses a heavy front stance or a wider, lower karate stance.

 

[VaselineSweep]

I guess Conor's new corner/coaches whatever didn't get the memo that calf kicks has been in style for a while now.

 

[BRASIL WAND]

Nope, he just weathered the early storm, made Conor defend a couple takedowns, then it was target practice from round 2 onward.

Conor’s punches were SLOW after that scramble in the first. Muscle fatigue got him KO’d.

 

[DarthChen731]

I guess Conor's new corner/coaches whatever didn't get the memo that calf kicks has been in style for a while now.

I was thinking that -- like this has become a widely used technique for a bit now and they comment/note it all the time. How did his team not consider this

 

[Rektkid]

I was thinking that -- like this has become a widely used technique for a bit now and they comment/note it all the time. How did his team not consider this

Because they truly believed Connor would knock him out in the first and didn't at all have a Plan B. Makes you wonder if Cowboy only took the fight for an after fight piss-up.

 

[MysticCam]

Nope, he just weathered the early storm, made Conor defend a couple takedowns, then it was target practice from round 2 onward.



Conor’s punches were SLOW after that scramble in the first. Muscle fatigue got him KO’d.

rewatch the fight lol the leg kicks were literally the biggest factor in the fight and it was a beautiful gameplan

 

[Sosua]

Plan had to be to take him into deep waters (which for Conor is about 6.5 minutes).

I was on the fence in terms of who I was rooting for but once Conor got taken down and then spent a few minutes clinching (not separating and striking) I thought his chances plummeted.

Not saying he would have won with a better game plan but he will look back and kick himself as to why he didn’t check kicks and wasted half his energy clinching etc

 

[Hardkore]

Nope, he just weathered the early storm, made Conor defend a couple takedowns, then it was target practice from round 2 onward.

Conor’s punches were SLOW after that scramble in the first. Muscle fatigue got him KO’d.

You make him work and his punches loses the snap. I've been saying this for fucking years, only Kebab and Dustin finally used it. Mendes to a certain degree, just didn't have the gas tank to keep it up

 

[Sosua]

Because they truly believed Connor would knock him out in the first and didn't at all have a Plan B. Makes you wonder if Cowboy only took the fight for an after fight piss-up.

I think that Cowboy fight just showed where he is... Conor is still dangerous but it’s probably not enough for the top 5 anymore.

 

[Hardkore]

I was thinking that -- like this has become a widely used technique for a bit now and they comment/note it all the time. How did his team not consider this

Conrad and his team thought he was going to be able to connect on Dustin early and take him out

 

[sadowolf]

I mean how many years have we been saying that a major key to beating Conor is most likely low kicks? I remember that being a big a part of why so many people thought Aldo would take him out. I don't have much doubt it was part of Dustin's plans; maybe not what he built his whole gameplan around, but something that he knew to go to often that would pay dividends as long as he didn't get reckless with them. The only really surprising thing is that it took someone this long to even try it.

 

[JonJonesNeedle]

This fight went almost exactly how I expected it to. I kept saying Dustin needs to mix it up with grappling, clinching, leg kicks, and body shots. He did 3 outta 4.
He needed to Fatigue Conor, kill his legs to kill mobility, and fight smart and safe. He did it all. I knew he would finish Conor in the second round, because Nate came very close to KO'ing Conor in the second round and Dustin is more of a finisher than Nate. Only question was if Dustin can endure Conor's onslaught which he did.

 

[fedoriswar37]

Took his cardio. Took his power .Took his leg. Then took his soul. Its kind of embarrassing that that only took 1 round. A takedown and a little bit of clinchwork shouldnt tire a championship level fighter.

 

[Migdagen]

Nope, he just weathered the early storm, made Conor defend a couple takedowns, then it was target practice from round 2 onward.

Conor’s punches were SLOW after that scramble in the first. Muscle fatigue got him KO’d.

That is 100% my point of view. The broader plan was clearly to survive Conor onslaught for a round and get him a bit tired so that he can no longer KO Poirier with a single punch. Kicks in the calves were probably just little strategy on the side.

 

[Kvothe_the_kingkiller]

Because as the fight went on, I was like ughhhh Conors shin looks like fucking shit. It was getting redder and more swollen as time went on. He took out the leg. That took away conors power and speed and just yeah, game over. I gotta say tho. CONNOR looked physically amazing. His legs looked crazy muscular. His condition looked good. Dustin just simply had a better plan to heat Connor. Even threw in some grappling. Good fight IQ from Dustin. Solid win.

Yes.

First he (they, Mike Brown and Poirier and team) game planned it, because of the south paw matchup and Conor's wide karate stance. Then he noticed Conor didn't know how to check it properly, so he started kicking thru his shins instead of to his shins. Then when Conor couldn't put any punching power together on a weak front leg he went hog wild and punched him in the face until he fell over.

There's a video floating around of Poirier and Mike Brown (in the background) being asked this exact question last night, and I'm paraphrasing Poiriers answer.

Good shit.

 

[Trax]

Because as the fight went on, I was like ughhhh Conors shin looks like fucking shit. It was getting redder and more swollen as time went on. He took out the leg. That took away conors power and speed and just yeah, game over. I gotta say tho. CONNOR looked physically amazing. His legs looked crazy muscular. His condition looked good. Dustin just simply had a better plan to heat Connor. Even threw in some grappling. Good fight IQ from Dustin. Solid win.

Fight IQ is not executing gameplan, fight IQ comes when your gameplan fails. But yes his gameplan was to take out Conors leg, slow him down and pour it up in second or third round. And it worked out perfectly.

 

[ClosetVitorFan]

Fight IQ is not executing gameplan, fight IQ comes when your gameplan fails. But yes his gameplan was to take out Conors leg, slow him down and pour it up in second or third round. And it worked out perfectly.

Yeah it was good shit. Executed perfectly. I remember watching the fight and then noticing conors shin and I was like. “oh no! That fucker is beet red and swollen”. He could barely put weight on it, and that was the beginning of the end.

 

[Jose Beehive]

He's said Mike Brown wanted lots of calf kicks