- All Conor McGregor has got is a left hand, the trainer of his UFC 246 opponent Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone has said.
- Jafari Vanier made the comments in a documentary called "More than a Cowboy," MMA Junkie reports.
- "He just has a left hand. You don't see Conor submitting anybody, you don't even see the guy going on the ground - very rare, right?"
- Vanier's comments have been picked apart by the MMA analyst Luke Thomas, who said that it ignores the fundamentals that go into landing that knockout punch.
- This includes distance-management, footwork, and timing.
- "If all Conor has is a left, turns out he doesn't need much more," Thomas said on his Sirius XM radio show.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone's coach has said Conor McGregor is a one-trick pony who can easily be lassoed.
The two UFC fighters trade blows at the UFC 246 event in Las Vegas on January 18, and one of those in Cerrone's corner has reduced McGregor as a competitor who is over-reliant on one weapon - a power punch with his left.
"If I were to look at the two, he's got a lot more to worry about than we do," Jafari Vanier, Cerrone's trainer, said in a documentary-series "More than a Cowboy," according to MMA Junkie.
Known for his combination striking with his fists and his feet, together with his black belts in Brazilian jiu jitsu and Gaidojitsu, Cerrone has 36 wins (10 by knockout, 17 by submission, and 9 by decision) against 13 losses.
McGregor does not have as great a variety in the way he achieves his victories as he, more often than not, knocks people out. Vanier seems to think this is a weakness.
"We've got multiple submission victories, head-kick knockout victories, we've got decisions," he said. "He just has a left hand. You don't see Conor submitting anybody, you don't even see the guy going on the ground - very rare, right?"
Vanier also suggested McGregor has a problematic gas tank, and can only fight in top gear for little more than one round.
"We just have to worry about a left hand in that first round - him coming out on fire," Vanier said. "You've never really seen 'Cowboy' ever gas. After the first round and a half for Conor, [he] fades. There's not a lot of pop in that left hand any more, footwork goes down, his hands are heavy."
Simplifying the potential strategy later this month, he added: "We stay away from that left hand, it's going to be a short night."
Some people don't give McGregor enough credit, analyst says
The MMA analyst Luke Thomas, who presents for Showtime and has his own Sirius XM radio show, said that, "if all Conor has is a left, turns out he doesn't need much more" because that left hand took him to champion status in "not one but two weight classes."
Together with that left hand, Thomas says he has other assets that tee-up the knockout punch. He has distance-management, footwork, timing, combination-striking, and accuracy, to go along with it.
"He has a command of all these important fundamentals, such that he can find an opportunity to land the left almost ubiquitously throughout his career to the point that he's a high achiever."
Cerrone and McGregor will fight at welterweight.
Read more: