It seems like the fallout from Conor McGregor’s stoppage loss to Dustin Poirier is just beginning. Some of his most ardent fans on the internet are in disbelief, while others are making up excuses for his loss.
But lost in all the hullabaloo is the fact that Conor did a very good thing in donating a check for $500,000 to the Good Life Foundation, which Poirier spearheads and sponsors. After the fight, Poirier’s wife, Jolie, even went to Conor’s locker room to personally thank him for the donation.
Conor, who was seen seated while icing his right shin, was very gracious in defeat and quite magnanimous with his finances.
So there’s really no need to turn Conor’s debacle into another spectacle. Like I said, it’s like that at the top level—one mistake is all it takes and you will get knocked out.
STRATEGY. That being said, let’s be technical for a bit here so we can dissect what happened, strategy-wise.
Conor is a southpaw and so is Dustin, and it seems like the former was more comfortable facing off against orthodox fighters. To date, his most spectacular knockout wins came against right- handed opponents, Jose Aldo and Eddie Alvarez.
In boxing, we have the so-called southpaw advantage. Technically, it’s not really an advantage, but it is used to refer to the fact that most fighters are orthodox in stance and so fighting a southpaw is the outlier.
Conversely, the southpaw is more used to fighting orthodox fighters because there are more right-handed fighters, ergo he is at an “advantage” as opposed to the orthodox fighter who has to learn and adapt how to fight a southpaw.
That could have been a factor if Conor didn’t even bother to spar with fellow southpaws. And if you consider that McGregor hasn’t really been as active as he should have been, perhaps he lacked the requisite preparation needed or maybe he underestimated Poirier since he had already beaten him the first time they fought.
The leg kicks were also very important for Poirier. With his southpaw stance, Conor’s lead foot was his right, similar to Dustin’s. So the latter’s back leg was his left which had more power and so those leg kicks did damage often and early.
When you punch, you need to have a solid base and stance so that you can generate more power. With his lead leg gone, Conor had trouble planting his feet solidly so he could throw with more torque behind his punches. He did land several left hands on Dustin, but the latter took them well.
Dustin’s conditioning was also a factor here, as his hands were very busy and you have to have great stamina to keep that up. Against someone like Conor who has great standup striking skills, you have to keep him at bay by being busy and ward him off; otherwise, he will just walk through you.
Dustin was fit, strong and stable, and that’s how he was able to find the proper angles to land those devastating punches and beat Conor at his own game.
VERBATIM. “I love seeing a loudmouth get knocked out. There is nothing that makes me happier. Seeing a piece of ** get put down, that was great. I loved it.”-- Justin Gaethje (www.sports.yahoo.com)
LAST ROUNDS. Are on Alvin Tentativa and Cora Seno who celebrate their birthdays this week. Cheers!