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Since @SriramMSays is going to be dropping a Poirier - McGregor article for @FightSitedotcom I'm not going to, instead I thought I'd do a quick GIF thread with the stuff I grabbed. Probably better anyway since my thoughts on the fight are pretty concise.
Their first fight was pretty quick, but Poirier actually did a lot of the same things in that fight as in the second one. He tried to leg kick, he came in with weaving combos trying to mix in takedowns, and he generally didn't bite too much on Mac's feints and get countered.
However, the shape of the fights were not the same. So what changed? Mainly Poirier made a few adjustments that made his preferred approach more effective, and McGregor fought in a way that allowed Poirier to have more success.
In the first fight McGregor fought in a much more karate style than the boxing heavy approach he favored in the second fight. He kicked a lot more, which created a longer distance for Poirier to cross. That made it easier for Mac to see and avoid Dustin's TDs.
In the second fight Mac was heavy on his front foot, and so when Poirier would weave and roll in with punches McGregor remained in range for the takedown.
This matters not because Poirier did a lot with the TD (he didn't, Conor defended well), but because it forced McGregor to think about the TD whenever Poirier entered the pocket. He couldn't just box. This allowed Poirier to counter in the pocket more effectively.
You could see those counters working really well throughout the fight, especially the check hook. Conor likes to throw unusual strikes, especially lead uppercuts, and Poirier figured him out pretty quickly and started countering hard.
Of course, the biggest story of the fight was the low kick. Now, Dustin did try to low kick in the first fight, but it didn't have much effect for two reasons: firstly the longer distance meant he had fewer chances to land them, and secondly his placement allowed Mac to counter.
There are two main ways to deal with a leg kicker in MMA: you can either check the kicks, or more commonly you can try to catch and counter. With Conor using a very front foot heavy stance in this fight catching and countering was his only real option.
He was able to do this when Dustin threw the kicks at thigh level. In fact most of kicks Dustin threw a little higher McGregor *did* counter. He was clearly prepared for that aspect of Poirier's game.
However, most of the low kicks Dustin threw *were not* at thigh level. They were hard but fast kicks aimed at the calf. Kicks like that are almost impossible to catch and so fast that there's not much opportunity to counter with the cross.
Dustin quickly took away Conor's mobility with those low kicks. It's also very difficult for a boxer to throw hard if he can't transfer weight effectively. Mac found himself eating counters himself as he came back too slowly.
At the end of the fight Conor's mobility was so bad that he essentially let Dustin turn him and put him on the fence. Poirier then showed terrific patience, shot selection, and power in finishing the Irishman.
So the story of this fight for me is that Poirier came in mostly the same fighter just a lot better, especially with his pocket boxing and low kick strategy, and Conor's choice to use more boxing than karate played into Poirier's stylistic improvements.
It's a truism in rematches that stylistic matchups don't change, but that only holds if both guys maintain the same style. McGregor has changed his style significantly since his fight fight with Poirier, and in this instance those changes played into Dustin's hands.
If they were to have a third fight it would be interesting to see if McGregor would or even could go back to his old style emphasizing kicking and mobility. Dustin's a harder hitter with a better chin at LW than FW so I'm not sure it would matter, but it would change the matchup.
Dustin showed that he could handle Conor's power at LW, and he has Mac's timing on his unorthodox punching. Karate McGregor would still be vulnerable to Dustin's improved low kicking. I'd probably pick Dustin in a third fight but Mac is good at adjusting between bouts.
If he came in with an improved game plan (as he did in Diaz 2) he wouldn't really have to fight against type to win, just revert to some of his old style. In any case it would be a great fight as Dustin is way better than he used to be and Conor, frankly, isn't.
I'm not sure how much of an effect it had on this fight, but one other facet that was interesting was how much more confident Dustin appeared. He seems hesitant in the first fight whereas Mac talks a lot of shit, in the 2nd fight Dustin talks as much or more than Conor.
Especially when he starts tagging Mac with counters, Dustin is talking a lot of smack and McGregor doesn't really respond at all. The confidence levels seemed inverted from the first fight. I wonder how much of Mac's confidence these days is just bravado.
