MMAmania.com resident fighter analyst Andrew Richardson breaks down the mixed martial arts (MMA) game of UFC Fight Night 59 headliner Conor McGregor, who looks to continue his meteoric rise this Sunday (Jan. 18, 2015) inside the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Irish fighting sensation, Conor McGregor, is set to collide with German striker, Dennis Siver, this Sunday night (Jan. 18, 2015) at UFC Fight Night 59 on FOX Sports 1 from inside the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Through brash talk and flashy skills, McGregor has quickly become one of the biggest stars in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). If he can continue in his winning ways, a marquee title match up with Jose Aldo is undoubtedly in his future.
However, he must first get through a very determined man in Siver. In what is sure to be an explosive striking battle, McGregor will put his own karate-based attack against Germany's former amateur kickboxing champion.
Let's take a closer look and see if his skills are up to task.
Striking
McGregor has a fairly unique style of kickboxing, resulting from his pretty deep striking background. An amateur boxing champion fighting out of a Karate stance and throwing spin kicks, the Southpaw very often does make his opponent's movement and overall skill level seem "basic" in comparison.
In order to find the knockout -- something the Irishman has accomplished 14 times now -- McGregor will aggressively stalk his opponent. As he does so, he fires off brutal kicks, putting the pressure on his opponent to react.
Regardless of how he spins, taunts, or moves his hands, McGregor is constantly in position to counter. Once his opponent attempts to return fire, McGregor will aim to slip the blow and landing his own punishing counter. This game plan is not unique to McGregor, but he does it very, very well. In addition, McGregor has gotten much more aggressive with leading with his punches, which is quite rare for a fighter that started out as mostly a counter striker.
Unlike a lot of fighters who attempt this strategy, McGregor has serious finishing power behind his occasionally flashy distance strikes. McGregor throws these strikes with deadly intent, and they often leave his opponent open to more basic punches.
McGregor includes a lot of lead leg strikes into his attack. This was especially clear against Max Holloway, the only fighter to take McGregor past the first round thus far in his UFC career. Against the young Hawaiian, McGregor landed stomp, side, and even hook kicks with his lead leg. Before long, Holloway was flinching whenever McGregor twitched but really couldn't defend against the variety of strikes.
The Irish fighter built off this into the second round. With Holloway trying to cover up or check whenever "Notorious" lifted his lead leg, McGregor would attack with a jumping switch kick. As Holloway anticipated a kick from McGregor's right leg, a left shin would instead slam into his body or go high.
One of McGregor's best techniques is his left high kick, jumping or otherwise. He throws it with very little prior movement and does not lose his balance as he releases, which allows him to throw the technique often and be ready to counter if his opponent comes back with punches. To land the strike, McGregor uses the threat of his straight left to lead his opponent into the high kick and vice versa. Additionally, McGregor will sometimes throw a high step knee rather than the kick, depending on the distance.
Another notable distance tool in McGregor's arsenal is his front kick. McGregor really likes to dig it into his opponent's mid-section and will occasionally aim for the chin as well.
As mentioned, McGregor is quite open to leading with punches for a counter striker. This is especially true if his opponent is acting defensive after absorbing some hard kicks. His left straight is often shot out towards the head or body and sometimes doubled up. McGregor will also throw a 1-2 occasionally and does use a very nice lead hand uppercut to left hand combination often.
Much of the time, McGregor is simply trying to line up his left hand. Regardless of whether he's throwing the power strike as a straight or hook, McGregor will use his jab to herd his foe into finishing blow. He is very relaxed while pursing the finish, allowing him to line up his kill shot quite well.
Finally, McGregor is more than prepared for his opponent's response. Initially, he will just take a step or two backwards, getting a read on his opponent's speed and habits. Then, he'll look to slip the next combination and return with a deadly power punch of his own.
Often, McGregor will slip inside his opponent's punch and come up with a straight left hand.
McGregor's debut performance against Marcus Brimage was an excellent example of his counter striking ability.
Angered by McGregor's "Notorious" trash talk, Brimage needed little motivation to push forward with combinations. Initially, the two were both landing, but McGregor began countering with a power uppercut against the shorter man. Once it landed, McGregor feinted with the strike and had Brimage reacting, allowing him to land it more easily later.
Defensively, McGregor is a pretty solid striker. For the most part, he's a tough man to hit, as his footwork and head movement keep him out of danger. However, there is a risk to keeping his hands low, as McGregor has absorbed punches in the past when he misinterprets his opponent's movement.
Additionally, Dustin Poirier landed every leg kick that he threw without issue. Low kicks are typically a strong solution to the Karate stance, so it could be a potential issue for McGregor in the future, assuming his bouts go past the two minute mark.
Wrestling
McGregor has not displayed any spectacular wrestling technique thus far in his Octagon career, but the athletic Irishman hasn't needed to. That's partly due to the lack of quality wrestlers on his resume, but it's also worth mentioning that McGregor has manhandled each of the opponents that have attempted to clinch up with him.
When McGregor does pursue the takedown -- which is a rarity -- he likes to shoot for a powerful double leg takedown. Though he can look for the shot while his opponent is trapped against the fence, the Irishman does the takedown best as a reactionary shot.
In addition to his double leg, McGregor has landed a few nice single legs in his career, including one on Max Holloway. The young Hawaiian is actually a very talented defensive wrestler, making an injured McGregor's controlling victory quite impressive. To finish his shot, McGregor likes to run the pipe.
As mentioned, McGregor's wrestling has yet to truly be tested, but it looks quite solid so far. He has powerful hips and thus a strong sprawl, and he's pretty technical with his defense against the cage. Plus, getting in close to McGregor can be difficult due to his lengthy style of striking.
Again, McGregor's athleticism plays a huge part here. When Diego Brandao attempted to throw McGregor to the mat from the clinch, McGregor simply went with the movement and kept pushing Brandao over as he fell. Brandao is a fairly strong featherweight himself, but he was flipped right onto his back despite executing a nice clinch throw.
Finally, McGregor is dangerous while he defends shots. By mixing strikes in with his defense, he gives his opponent a legitimate reason to abandon the takedown: fear of getting knocked out.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)
Now a brown belt in jiu-jitsu, one of McGregor's main training partners is expert grappler and UFC welterweight standout, Gunnar Nelson. Since much of McGregor's career has taken place standing up, it's tough to get a full read on his grappling ability, but the snippets we've seen so far have been promising.
The best part of McGregor's grappling is his guard passing. He's very heavy from top position and really weighs on his opponent using the head and arm control grip, driving into his opponent's chest and neck. Once he gets to half guard, he'll apply heavy shoulder pressure and cut through the guard. After he gets around the guard, McGregor does not settle, as he likes to slide his knee across the stomach for the mount.
In addition, McGregor did a very nice job stacking up Brandao. When the BJJ black belt's ankles were stuck up by his head, McGregor slammed what are essentially free punches through his legs to his opponent's face. Plus, McGregor did an excellent job defending a couple of leg locks that Brandao looked to roll into, escaping the holds and punishing his opponent for his attempt.
In his sole submission victory, McGregor showed nice back control and excellent grappling instincts prior to locking in the rear naked choke. Overall, he seems to favor chokes quite a bit. He's both dropped for guillotines and used one to pass, hunts for the arm triangle choke often (which actually led to the rear-naked choke), and I'm very confident that he was setting up an arm-in north-south choke against Holloway a couple times.
Like I said, it's not much, but I don't expect McGregor to look lost if he winds up on his back.
Best chance for success
Really, McGregor just needs to avoid getting clipped in the first couple of rounds.
Siver is probably the easiest style match up in the top 10 for McGregor, including Poirier, who at least had the option to attempt a ground battle. Siver likely doesn't have the conditioning to win a five-round grappling match nor the jiu-jitsu to submit his opponent, meaning he needs to win a stand up battle early on.
Unfortunately, that's McGregor's wheelhouse.
So long as McGregor is wary of his opponent's spinning back kick -- and he's undoubtedly aware of the dangerous strike -- and his compact hooks, the Irishman should be able to pick his shots from a longer range and consistently land hard shots. Those strikes add up and will slowly wear away at Siver, allowing McGregor to either await his counter shot or, as his pre-fight interviews suggest, get proactive in his pursuit of the finish.
Will McGregor earn his title shot against Jose Aldo, or will Dennis Siver kick off 2015 with a massive upset?