Hey all, I wrote a piece last night on the Conor McGregor/Eddie Alvarez fight. I realize it isn't the most difficult fight to breakdown, but I found a lot of things about the fight interesting and wanted to explore them, so this happened. It is for sure a FRAT and tl;dr, but if you are bored, maybe check it out.
How Conor McGregor Dethroned "The Underground King."
Anyone could see that Saturday night was going to be special. But not everyone could have predicted the kind of special that was going to be riding on the left hand of a certain "Notorious" Irishman that evening.
It took Conor McGregor just a little over eight minutes to dispatch Eddie Alvarez, a man who has held every title in the game at 155 lbs. After dropping his adversary an incredible five times in the first round and a half alone, McGregor’s history-making performance was sealed with a stellar four punch combination that put the Philadelphia native on his back for the final time.
With this win, McGregor became the first man in the 23-year existence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship to hold championships in two different weight divisions at the same time.
But how exactly did the double champ pull off—well, becoming the double champ? Let’s have a look.
You’ve Got To Have Attributes
By this point, everyone knows that McGregor has a left hand. While this certainly was a major component in Saturday night’s win, it can hardly be chalked up to just that.
We’re looking at a man with an unusual body type for the weight class: a large, wide-shouldered frame that is inordinately lanky with its impressive 74-inch reach. An equally wide, side-on karate-inspired stance further compounds this length. His unquestionable mastery of distance and range allows him to utilize these advantages, both innate and learned, to the fullest extent.
Go ahead and add the spice of a little precision and timing—after all, in the wise words of "Mystic Mac" "precision beats power and timing beats speed." We’re talking about the dead-on accuracy of a counter-punching sniper with the confidence and wherewithal to unleash his most devastating weapon at a moment’s notice. And not just at any moment: the perfect moment. When you make a mistake he is going to make you pay for it.
The vast array of unconventional techniques at his disposal is a window into his creativity. The ridiculous athleticism in his possession is demonstrated via the whirlwind of kicks he can release when he chooses to. The fact that he doesn’t always choose to is a testament to his versatility as a fighter and his adaptability in the face of certain style matchups.
A background in amateur boxing gives him an edge in pugilistic prowess. The fact that he is a southpaw who has seen countless open-stance style matchups further accentuates this reality.
His takedown defense is—okay, he’s not an All-American yet, but it is improving. And let’s face it, any moment spent on the feet with him is a moment spent in the lion’s den (or a tiger in this case, perhaps?)
Who in mixed martial arts today can emulate the mindset of Conor McGregor? The man is as goal-driven as they come and could probably write a self-help book on visualizations that would outsell "The Secret."
He stays unflinchingly calm in the face of what can only be characterized as overwhelming levels of pressure.
Oh, and he has a pretty damn good left hand, too.
Assessing The Underground King’s Performance
Mark Henry had the perfect game plan and his fighter abandoned it.
Okay, so we don’t actually know if that’s the case, but that’s the narrative that their camp is driving if we want to take their word for it.
While we may not know the exact details of the game plan that Henry is alluding to, we can probably guess a fair bit of what it may have entailed. In Alvarez’s own words, "kick more and wrestle more."
Alvarez came out kicking in the early goings of round one and had success employing this strategy. As McGregor charged forward moments after the opening bell, he ate several hard inside leg kicks which upset his center of gravity. On one such occasion, he was caught off balance and momentarily swept off his feet while throwing a 1-2.
People have long speculated that his stance, reminiscent of karatekas such as Lyoto Machida, could befall the same fate as was seen in the first bout with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: being battered by consistent, punishing leg kicks.
Like Machida, McGregor’s southpaw predilection makes this slightly more difficult to exploit. Unlike Machida, McGregor does not regularly switch to orthodox, where low line kicks would be more accessible. Nor has he faced a kicker as proficient as Shogun, save a 13-second run-in with Jose Aldo.
In a fight of opposite stances such as this, lead leg kicks, rear-leg kicks aimed at the back leg of the opponent, and inside calf kicks tend to be more effective than the standard low kicks due to the angle created by the mirrored stances.
Alvarez, who is not a particularly renowned kicker, admitted on Chael Sonnen’s podcast that he went foot-to-shin on the third attempt and "had to shut it down."
Before his wrestling could ever come into play, he got clipped by the infamous straight left.
His attempts to set up his wrestling with his striking, a usually sensible approach by any well-rounded martial artist, was met with dire consequences. His best weapon, a shifting lead right called "the dart" is the same technique that got him into trouble.
Ideally, the dart is thrown from outside the lead foot of the opponent, shortening the path for connection against a southpaw and making it more difficult to counter with the weak angle that is offered for retaliation. Alvarez threw it from outside but could have done more to take advantage of the angle by moving to his left while throwing.
McGregor exploited this tiny detail and was able to connect with the left hand before readjusting by pivoting into him, lining him up for the second left that would soon follow. This punch, aided by the superior outside angle, sent Alvarez crashing down and instantly changed the course of the fight.
With the sudden realization of how this fight was likely to play out on the feet, Alvarez was left with little choice but to attempt to take this fight to the floor where he expected a sizeable grappling advantage.
Of course, without the ability to set up his takedown entries with strikes, he was forced to shoot from a less than ideal range. When combining McGregor’s impeccable sense of distance with Alvarez’s compromised state, it is easy to imagine why the sloppy shots that ensued from the outside were to no avail.
But setting up these shots was the equivalent of playing with fire. It amounted to a vicious cycle.
The one time Alvarez managed to pin his opponent to the cage in the second round, the Irishman showed remarkably improved takedown defense.
No Apologies
McGregor is the Featherweight and Lightweight champion of the UFC because of his ability to instigate chaos and capitalize on it. He has the capacity to create space and take it away in an instant to the point that it is startling for opponents to deal with.
If he keeps fighting for long enough, someone is going to capitalize on the cons of his stance with a barrage of well-placed kicks. Someone is going to find a way to implement their wrestling in a way that takes him out of his comfort zone. They might test his cardio ala the Diaz fights, or maybe they’ll catch him on the end of a right hand as he underestimates the distance necessary for a counter.
There are paths to victory against McGregor, as there are against all fighters. All athletes lose eventually. We saw it in the first fight with Diaz, and if he continues to compete, I’m sure we’ll see it again at some point.
But until then, let’s make one thing clear: the hype is real. Saturday was a special night because it was headlined by a special fighter.
How Conor McGregor Dethroned "The Underground King."
Anyone could see that Saturday night was going to be special. But not everyone could have predicted the kind of special that was going to be riding on the left hand of a certain "Notorious" Irishman that evening.
It took Conor McGregor just a little over eight minutes to dispatch Eddie Alvarez, a man who has held every title in the game at 155 lbs. After dropping his adversary an incredible five times in the first round and a half alone, McGregor’s history-making performance was sealed with a stellar four punch combination that put the Philadelphia native on his back for the final time.
With this win, McGregor became the first man in the 23-year existence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship to hold championships in two different weight divisions at the same time.
But how exactly did the double champ pull off—well, becoming the double champ? Let’s have a look.
You’ve Got To Have Attributes
By this point, everyone knows that McGregor has a left hand. While this certainly was a major component in Saturday night’s win, it can hardly be chalked up to just that.
We’re looking at a man with an unusual body type for the weight class: a large, wide-shouldered frame that is inordinately lanky with its impressive 74-inch reach. An equally wide, side-on karate-inspired stance further compounds this length. His unquestionable mastery of distance and range allows him to utilize these advantages, both innate and learned, to the fullest extent.
Go ahead and add the spice of a little precision and timing—after all, in the wise words of "Mystic Mac" "precision beats power and timing beats speed." We’re talking about the dead-on accuracy of a counter-punching sniper with the confidence and wherewithal to unleash his most devastating weapon at a moment’s notice. And not just at any moment: the perfect moment. When you make a mistake he is going to make you pay for it.
The vast array of unconventional techniques at his disposal is a window into his creativity. The ridiculous athleticism in his possession is demonstrated via the whirlwind of kicks he can release when he chooses to. The fact that he doesn’t always choose to is a testament to his versatility as a fighter and his adaptability in the face of certain style matchups.
A background in amateur boxing gives him an edge in pugilistic prowess. The fact that he is a southpaw who has seen countless open-stance style matchups further accentuates this reality.
His takedown defense is—okay, he’s not an All-American yet, but it is improving. And let’s face it, any moment spent on the feet with him is a moment spent in the lion’s den (or a tiger in this case, perhaps?)
Who in mixed martial arts today can emulate the mindset of Conor McGregor? The man is as goal-driven as they come and could probably write a self-help book on visualizations that would outsell "The Secret."
He stays unflinchingly calm in the face of what can only be characterized as overwhelming levels of pressure.
Oh, and he has a pretty damn good left hand, too.
Assessing The Underground King’s Performance
Mark Henry had the perfect game plan and his fighter abandoned it.
Okay, so we don’t actually know if that’s the case, but that’s the narrative that their camp is driving if we want to take their word for it.
While we may not know the exact details of the game plan that Henry is alluding to, we can probably guess a fair bit of what it may have entailed. In Alvarez’s own words, "kick more and wrestle more."
Alvarez came out kicking in the early goings of round one and had success employing this strategy. As McGregor charged forward moments after the opening bell, he ate several hard inside leg kicks which upset his center of gravity. On one such occasion, he was caught off balance and momentarily swept off his feet while throwing a 1-2.
People have long speculated that his stance, reminiscent of karatekas such as Lyoto Machida, could befall the same fate as was seen in the first bout with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: being battered by consistent, punishing leg kicks.
Like Machida, McGregor’s southpaw predilection makes this slightly more difficult to exploit. Unlike Machida, McGregor does not regularly switch to orthodox, where low line kicks would be more accessible. Nor has he faced a kicker as proficient as Shogun, save a 13-second run-in with Jose Aldo.
In a fight of opposite stances such as this, lead leg kicks, rear-leg kicks aimed at the back leg of the opponent, and inside calf kicks tend to be more effective than the standard low kicks due to the angle created by the mirrored stances.
Alvarez, who is not a particularly renowned kicker, admitted on Chael Sonnen’s podcast that he went foot-to-shin on the third attempt and "had to shut it down."
Before his wrestling could ever come into play, he got clipped by the infamous straight left.
His attempts to set up his wrestling with his striking, a usually sensible approach by any well-rounded martial artist, was met with dire consequences. His best weapon, a shifting lead right called "the dart" is the same technique that got him into trouble.
Ideally, the dart is thrown from outside the lead foot of the opponent, shortening the path for connection against a southpaw and making it more difficult to counter with the weak angle that is offered for retaliation. Alvarez threw it from outside but could have done more to take advantage of the angle by moving to his left while throwing.
McGregor exploited this tiny detail and was able to connect with the left hand before readjusting by pivoting into him, lining him up for the second left that would soon follow. This punch, aided by the superior outside angle, sent Alvarez crashing down and instantly changed the course of the fight.
With the sudden realization of how this fight was likely to play out on the feet, Alvarez was left with little choice but to attempt to take this fight to the floor where he expected a sizeable grappling advantage.
Of course, without the ability to set up his takedown entries with strikes, he was forced to shoot from a less than ideal range. When combining McGregor’s impeccable sense of distance with Alvarez’s compromised state, it is easy to imagine why the sloppy shots that ensued from the outside were to no avail.
But setting up these shots was the equivalent of playing with fire. It amounted to a vicious cycle.
The one time Alvarez managed to pin his opponent to the cage in the second round, the Irishman showed remarkably improved takedown defense.
No Apologies
McGregor is the Featherweight and Lightweight champion of the UFC because of his ability to instigate chaos and capitalize on it. He has the capacity to create space and take it away in an instant to the point that it is startling for opponents to deal with.
If he keeps fighting for long enough, someone is going to capitalize on the cons of his stance with a barrage of well-placed kicks. Someone is going to find a way to implement their wrestling in a way that takes him out of his comfort zone. They might test his cardio ala the Diaz fights, or maybe they’ll catch him on the end of a right hand as he underestimates the distance necessary for a counter.
There are paths to victory against McGregor, as there are against all fighters. All athletes lose eventually. We saw it in the first fight with Diaz, and if he continues to compete, I’m sure we’ll see it again at some point.
But until then, let’s make one thing clear: the hype is real. Saturday was a special night because it was headlined by a special fighter.
