Don't agree with this at all, Conor don't fight the same way compared to his fights from back then. He used to be way lighter on his toes and bouncy, also used to throw alot of front kicks and those jumping switch kicks/wheel kicks to cut the cage off and herd fighters. He's now way more flat footed and boxing centric, stance is different as well. This version of Dustin could have beat that Conor(his legs have always been there to be kicked), but dude's style is way different these days.
Conor definitely changed his style when he moved up to 155 and got away from Ido Portal. I can't believe I'm saying this but they should bring that guy back. He was much lighter on his feet. Since moving up from 145 Conor basically turned into a boxer that just kept the same bladed stance.
Sure, he has thrown kicks but a lot of it is a smokescreen to get the attention away from his left hand. Most of his offense has always been about that left hand, but even more so than ever after coming up in weight after the Aldo victory. And in several fights the left was enough. Conor's been so good at one thing that he hasn't been pushed to expand his skill-set. If Conor in the past 5 years had just worked in one credible takedown threat he could have been so much more of a monster.
The Conor I saw last night didn't look slower or different to me than the Conor we've seen from 2016 to now. He landed many of his signature strikes. The jab, piston left hand, shovel uppercut, the shoulder strike, and even a glancing head kick. And he threw the high spinning heel kick but again, that's to peacock and distract from the left hand. He did hurt Dustin and I thought he looked good until the calf kicks. Even his defensive grappling was okay; he did a good job of keeping Dustin's hands from connecting with a 2-on-1 once he got up from the 1st takedown.
I think too much is being made of Conor's inactivity today by the pundits. Dustin just fought a better fight. Conor has to rely so heavily on planting his weight on his right foot for the piston left hand. Dustin had the perfect plan to snatch Conor's ability to do that. Once Conor's right leg was dead, Dustin pounced on the opening and sealed the deal.
But to your point, Conor definitely didn't look like 145 lbs Conor either.
I thought Herb stopped the fight becuase Conor couldn't defend anymore but godamn, Dustin actually slept him
