>Gordon looked unstoppable at Quintet 3 by the way. But he
>basically said Conor's jiujitsu was a lot better than he's
>been given credit for,


Eh, that strikes me as opportunistic and Gordon angling to get in Conor's good graces with a comment like that.


even though he still can't defend the
>back but I think he was broken by that point, didn't manage to
>sweep


I've watched the fight 4 times now. I don't recall Conor even attempting a sweep or sub, and his escapes did not look good. I don't think he ever even got close to getting back up after each takedown.


>or threaten with any subs but mitigated damage,


I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this, if Conor wasn't getting hit, he was probably hooking Khabib's gloves. When he wasn't able to do that, he almost got finished (round 2).


>recovered guard after mounted,


I remember him doing that once. I think Khabib is fine with not passing, which is how partially how Conor got his guard back. Khabib is not afraid to strike in the guard.



conserved energy etc. he didn't
>absorb as much damage as guys who are less comfortable on the
>ground like edson because he made small adjustments, recovered
>his hooks, overhooked / underhooked the arms.


I don't remember Conor getting either overhooks or underhooks. I will say, at least Edson was able to get back up and (I think) break away a few times from Khabib, despite getting taken back down again. But keep in mind the Edson fight was 3 rounds. After watching the Iaquinta and MsGregor fights, you can clearly see Khabib does pace himself in the 5 rounders. The 3 round fights he goes ham, and is definitely inflicting a lot of damage faster.


If you take this
>Conor and put him up against Mendes again I think he looks
>much better on the ground.


I think Mendes that does a full camp beats Conor, especially now that we've seen the blueprint.


He already proved his improvement
>against Nate the second time around, and I think he will have
>improved even more by this point.


I didn't think he looked better against Nate the second time. He just came with a game plan and stuck to it instead of throwing everything he had behind the left hand. Essentially his/Kavanaugh's game plan was the JacksonWink point-fight game plan. Conor even turn and ran like some of the JacksonWink fighters do.