After the world gasped in disgust at the sight of Conor McGregor’s mangled leg, McGregor’s head coach, John Kavanagh, went into detail about the round that had just occurred.
Kavangh mentioned that McGregor had a niggling ankle injury leading up to the fight, which his camp deemed serious enough to warrant a scan:
If Conor’s Ankle was already injured, why did he focus so heavily on leg kicks?
“Little bit of that ankle injury had been aggravated during that camp. We’d gotten a scan on it. Did that have a small part to play in weakening it? I don’t know.
There might have been something in there. It seems unusual that a young healthy fit man can wrap his foot around an elbow without there being something there before.”
If Conor was nursing an injured ankle, why did his fight plan focus on aggressive, heavy kicks? Is Kavanagh telling the truth, or was Conor’s game plan flawed from the very beginning?
Over the years, many have criticized Conor McGregor’s over-reliance on his thunderous left hand. It’s a valid criticism. It was particularly obvious in his last bout with Poirier, in which Conor plodded forward, flat-footed, with none of the agility and responsivity that made him the UFC’s biggest star.
Heading into this fight, he specifically prepared for an MMA bout, which meant reincorporating kicks into his game.
Conor’s kicks, until this week, served him well. There are two fights that probably informed his approach to this one. Diaz 2, and Poirier 1.
When McGregor faced Nate Diaz for the second time, he was coming off the back of the first loss of his UFC career. In the first fight, Nate Diaz fought like Nate Diaz.He wilfully ate McGregor’s punches and finished the Irishman with a rear naked choke.
For the second bout, Conor adjusted his approach. He employed Muay Thai-style leg kicks to greatly reduce Nate’s mobility and striking power. This was critical in the later rounds when a gassed McGregor ran from Diaz.
We’re not saying Conor was right to run away mid-fight, but damaging Diaz’s mobility certainly helped him see out the fight. MMA fans with keen memories will remember the welts raising on Diaz’s leg in round two. This kick-heavy approach was instrumental in Conor lasting five rounds, and ultimately winning the bout via decision.
McGregor’s camp will also have looked at his first fight against Dustin Poirier. Conor took advantage of heel kicks and back kicks to keep Poirier at distance, and prevent Dustin from setting up any kind of rhythm. The fight, of course, ended thanks to Conor’s left hand, but it was his kicks that created the scenario in which that was possible.
In both these bouts, Conor McGregor’s aggressive kicks, rooted in Muay Thai and Taekwondo, won him the fights. Diaz 2 was his first UFC fight coming back from a loss. Dustin 1 was, obviously, the only fight he’s won to date against Dustin Poirier.
The approach worked for him against tough opponents in the past, which explains why McGregor would use it again. But if his ankle was weak enough to break on a leg check, why would he use it so heavily as a weapon?
Simply put, Conor McGregor is hard-headed. He’s stubborn. He tends not to adjust his plans in spite of evidence to the contrary. It took him a series of submission losses on Ireland’s domestic MMA circuit before he took up grappling in his MMA training, despite training under John Kavanagh, who remains Ireland’s premier BJJ practitioner and coach.
Plus, Conor has fought through injuries before. McGregor tore his ACL only weeks before defeating Chad Mendes. He actually tore the same ligament during his fight with Max Holloway, and still managed to win the bout.
Conor McGregor is used to fighting, and winning, with an injury. Specifically, with a leg injury. From his perspective, maybe a niggling ankle issue wasn’t as severe as a torn ACL. Unfortunately, age makes fools of us all, as Conor learned after only one round with Dustin Poirier.
It’s no surprise that, given his history, Conor McGregor would choose to fight on a damaged leg. Was it stupid for him to kick himself to bits? Yes. Was it predictable? Yes. Will he learn from this? Only time will tell.
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