Conor has a 5" reach advantage over Ortega and has been successful at using range for timing smaller opponents. Eddie is an inch taller than Ortega with the same reach. Conor dismantled Eddie.
Nate was able out strike Conor in both fights due the deceptiveness of how he leans in. Nate’s already half way there before he throws, just a flick and he’s touching you up before following through with volume. It doesn’t take a haymaker to throw off your senses. There’s always the one you don’t see.
Though not as big, Ortega shares a similar advantage to McGregor against most opponents they have faced.
It is very highly unlikely that Conor can make FW again. In fact, I doubt it. His arms grow heavy.
Conor has learned a few things from his fights against Diaz and Mayweather, 155 is his division. Tony, Khabib and Nate are still very threatening, as well as Brian could, if he should step up and forego the possibility of reigning and defending a division.
IMO, the only thing it really says is that it’s possible to KO him. It doesn’t show a deteriorated chin - the elbow and uppercuts would likely have finished everybody. And even with them, he wasn’t out for long.
Ortega is a stylistic oddity. I’m not sure anybody but CRE and T-City himself knew how good T-City would be on the feet. But Frankie was still outlanding him. However, as Chael pointed out in his post-fight commentary, T-City’s guillotine attempt threw off Frankie’s striking. Frankie has never been a pure striker. He’s a wrestle-boxer. And T-City made Frankie not want to wrestle.
I don’t think anyone else would do that to him.
In terms of, ‘what does this say about Frankie v. Holloway or Conor?’ I think it simply shows that Frankie can be finished. But it says little about the fights, because Frankie would be more aggressive with his wrestling.
I’ve been praising Ortega’s standup since I watched the Moicano fight. He’s very calm in the pocket and has demonstrated he has a great chin. He has very good hands, very technical, and I was trying to tell you guys but everybody kept telling me I was crazy… Brian Ortega can beat McGregor anyway he wants… McGregor won’t take that fight because Ortega has his kryptonite in his arsenal too, a mean submission game. Ortega is a complete package. Well spoken, good human being, angelic looking, and a great fighter in the cage. He made it on his own too, UFC marketing machine isn’t the reason ppl are becoming aware of this guy, it’s because of his body of work in the cage. If UFC puts a promotional push behind him he easily becomes a star…
Nobody in MMA has ever handled Conor in the standup. Nate was a human heavy bag against Conor until he gassed, and he managed to rally in the second fight and still box Nate up.
Ortega’s good, and he’s calm in the cage, but he’s not going 10 rounds with the greatest boxer of his generation in his pro debut.
Conor might be an unlikeable dickhead, but he’s far and away the best MMA striker we’ve seen to this point.
Everybody’s got a guy who’s a stylistic nightmare for Conor…until Conor puts them to sleep
That’s not true… Mendes was whooping his ass on the feet and on the ground until he gassed. Go back and watch the fight… Mini Mendes, 5’6” was landing elbows in the standup and tagging him hard, even sliced him open. The best thing that happened to Conor in that fight is that Chad’s cardio needed work and he didn’t have enough time leading up to the fight. Otherwise Chad pulls of the upset. Chad lost to fatigue at the end of round 2. Everything before the last minute of that round was all Chad.
The truth. Mendes was winning on the feet.
Huh? Absolutely not close on the feet. WTF? Bizarre comment.
BTW Brian Ortega is the truth. Onething I noticed about him in previous fights. Is how defensively responsible he is in the boxing aspect. As far as headmovement deflecting shots footwork fight iq calm composed in the fire. The Frankie fight reminded me of Cain vs Werdum. Meaning the takedown threat wasn't there. Due to Werdum/Ortegas scary ground gAme. This allowed them to really unleash there striking attack without the fear of the the takedown. They can really sit down on there hits just let everything flow. Ortega is a serious problem for Max Holloway. IMHO he has the best boxing striking I've seen from a jujitsu player.
Ortega is going to be a star. His skill level is that of a champion. He’s fought nothing but hard fights in the UFC and won them all while showing steady improvement. He’s got massive power for 145 and a sick sub game. And he’s only 27.
I expect an Ortega-Holloway trilogy and maybe he moves to LW once he’s on the other side of 30
Frankie didn't want to dive into a sub when he was hurt after Ortega just latched onto the first guillotine attempt. It will be hard to beat Ortega because if you take him down you are likely to get submitted and if you stand up with him he has shown enough power and variety in strikes to finish you on the feet.
Sounds like all the hype Charles Olivera got before he fell off. "He doesn't need wrestling, your damned on the ground or feet".
Hopefully it works out better for Ortega. Imo he is like a Diaz with power strikes.
ive never seen someone improve at this rate, its insane.
the guillotine did play a huge part in this fight, i read people talk about how conor would for sure ko frankie after seeing that and that might be true but its not the same. frankie could shoot take down after take down on conor with no risk so it would be a different fight. with oretga he became timid after one shot and a guilltine attempt. it made him think twice and try to stick with the boxing and he got caught with a slick elbow.
2 things led to his finish. 1 being oretgas otherworldly calmness, i dont think we've ever seen this level of calmness and this meshes with 2 which is frankie trying to clinch rather then back off and get on his bike till he recovered. frankie thought he could clinch and recover which with most fighters would have been the case. most fighters would get excited and over commit on big punches allowing frankie to clinch but ortega didnt do that, he handled it perfect and was just touching him up to keep him away from the clinch until he saw him dazed enough he was able to reach back home to torrance with his uppercut and knock frankie off the ground with it.
we gotta give ortega credit for that elbow, watch it in slow mow and you will see how great it was. i cant remember if it started as a jab or a hook but he redirected it halfway to the target and switched it to an elbow that landed flush cuz frankie was defedning the punch. this might sound easy but it is 100% not easy. tricky striking like this is what makes an mma striker great. its not boxing so things like this is what really work. jon jones is a great example. and then staying calm and handling it perfectly allowing him time to setup the worlds biggest uppercut (rivaling ngannous).
so we cant really blame frankie for this, we gotta give t city his due. the kid is legit.
This is a great post
I feel like Conor could defeat Frankie and Ortega back to back in the same night.
IMO, the only thing it really says is that it’s possible to KO him. It doesn’t show a deteriorated chin - the elbow and uppercuts would likely have finished everybody. And even with them, he wasn’t out for long.
Ortega is a stylistic oddity. I’m not sure anybody but CRE and T-City himself knew how good T-City would be on the feet. But Frankie was still outlanding him. However, as Chael pointed out in his post-fight commentary, T-City’s guillotine attempt threw off Frankie’s striking. Frankie has never been a pure striker. He’s a wrestle-boxer. And T-City made Frankie not want to wrestle.
I don’t think anyone else would do that to him.
In terms of, ‘what does this say about Frankie v. Holloway or Conor?’ I think it simply shows that Frankie can be finished. But it says little about the fights, because Frankie would be more aggressive with his wrestling.
I’ve been praising Ortega’s standup since I watched the Moicano fight. He’s very calm in the pocket and has demonstrated he has a great chin. He has very good hands, very technical, and I was trying to tell you guys but everybody kept telling me I was crazy… Brian Ortega can beat McGregor anyway he wants… McGregor won’t take that fight because Ortega has his kryptonite in his arsenal too, a mean submission game. Ortega is a complete package. Well spoken, good human being, angelic looking, and a great fighter in the cage. He made it on his own too, UFC marketing machine isn’t the reason ppl are becoming aware of this guy, it’s because of his body of work in the cage. If UFC puts a promotional push behind him he easily becomes a star…
Nobody in MMA has ever handled Conor in the standup. Nate was a human heavy bag against Conor until he gassed, and he managed to rally in the second fight and still box Nate up.
Ortega’s good, and he’s calm in the cage, but he’s not going 10 rounds with the greatest boxer of his generation in his pro debut.
Conor might be an unlikeable dickhead, but he’s far and away the best MMA striker we’ve seen to this point.
Everybody’s got a guy who’s a stylistic nightmare for Conor…until Conor puts them to sleep
That’s not true… Mendes was whooping his ass on the feet and on the ground until he gassed. Go back and watch the fight… Mini Mendes, 5’6” was landing elbows in the standup and tagging him hard, even sliced him open. The best thing that happened to Conor in that fight is that Chad’s cardio needed work and he didn’t have enough time leading up to the fight. Otherwise Chad pulls of the upset. Chad lost to fatigue at the end of round 2. Everything before the last minute of that round was all Chad.
Chad was sleeping in two. Conor didn’t have to take that fight. He was also injured. And he destroyed Mendes. His punches didn’t even phase Conor. That’s a poor example. He cut Conor and started digging his fingers into the cut like a pussy. He gets NO credit from me.
It’s odd to see Ortega destroy Frankie at the end of rd 1 and then barely scrape by guida who was beating him if I remember correctly until Ortega landed the knee.
thats what comes to mind when I see someone like Frankie get koed or aldo knocked out by Conor. The cliche mma math doesn’t work statement couldn’t be truer
Mcgregor is a silly comparison. What mid level fighter did he struggle with like Ortega did with Guida?? Aldo got stiffened like 16 of his 18 previous opponents. Don’t make your initial statement look weak by trying to slip in a dig at a fighter that has nothing in common with the situation.
T-City is going to get pieced up by Max. He doesn't have the offensive wrestling to get the fight to the floor, and Max is just as big at Ortega so there's no substantial size advantage. No chance he beats Max. Also Ortega is a steroid cheat and I'll never let anyone forget that.
Also everyone forgets that T-City was getting picked apart by Renato Moicano until that guy shot a ridiculois single late in the third round and got subbed. Moicano being just as big as, if not bigger than Ortega. Brian will lose to any high level striker that isn't way smaller than him. Max would beat him, Aldo would beat him, and because the line would be so in favor of Ortega I would bet heavy on Stephens to beat him.
ive never seen someone improve at this rate, its insane.
the guillotine did play a huge part in this fight, i read people talk about how conor would for sure ko frankie after seeing that and that might be true but its not the same. frankie could shoot take down after take down on conor with no risk so it would be a different fight. with oretga he became timid after one shot and a guilltine attempt. it made him think twice and try to stick with the boxing and he got caught with a slick elbow.
2 things led to his finish. 1 being oretgas otherworldly calmness, i dont think we've ever seen this level of calmness and this meshes with 2 which is frankie trying to clinch rather then back off and get on his bike till he recovered. frankie thought he could clinch and recover which with most fighters would have been the case. most fighters would get excited and over commit on big punches allowing frankie to clinch but ortega didnt do that, he handled it perfect and was just touching him up to keep him away from the clinch until he saw him dazed enough he was able to reach back home to torrance with his uppercut and knock frankie off the ground with it.
we gotta give ortega credit for that elbow, watch it in slow mow and you will see how great it was. i cant remember if it started as a jab or a hook but he redirected it halfway to the target and switched it to an elbow that landed flush cuz frankie was defedning the punch. this might sound easy but it is 100% not easy. tricky striking like this is what makes an mma striker great. its not boxing so things like this is what really work. jon jones is a great example. and then staying calm and handling it perfectly allowing him time to setup the worlds biggest uppercut (rivaling ngannous).
so we cant really blame frankie for this, we gotta give t city his due. the kid is legit.
This is a great post
I feel like Conor could defeat Frankie and Ortega back to back in the same night.
Posts like this is the reason people hate Conor. Kind of like Rousey beating the world.
Frankie didn't want to dive into a sub when he was hurt after Ortega just latched onto the first guillotine attempt. It will be hard to beat Ortega because if you take him down you are likely to get submitted and if you stand up with him he has shown enough power and variety in strikes to finish you on the feet.