OP got me thinking of a similar situation, of when Cain Velasquez was submitted by Fabricio Werdum. Although Werdum did a lot to cause that desperation takedown from Cain, people talk about how Cain's blackbelt is not comparable to Werdum's blackbelt and that is the big reason Cain lost. It was Werdum's awesome planning and performance that won him the fight but people were quick about Cain's excuse (therefore Sea-level Cain was born)and Werdum's overall strategy was dis-credited and now only a rematch can settle this but not really cuz Cain will never be the same.
The ending of Nate/Conor fight played out in a similar fashion where Conor was on the verge of getting finished and went for a desperate takedown. At first people were saying, "Conor's JuJitsu Sux!" but eventually after all the breakdowns from the great jujitsu minds everyone changed gears about Conor's JuJitsu. (i'm guilty of it too) Then the excuses started piling in. "Conor fought 2 weight clsses up on short noice, he was gassed. Conor's JuJitsu is good, he just got hurt. Conor had a bad game plan, should have chopped up the legs. Conor had a full camp against RDA not Nate, Conor was winning until he lost, Conor's movement coach was a fraud, Conor's humble in victory or defeat, Conor got too cocky this time and he'll comeback humble and whip Frankie's Ass." I can see how Nate will be annoyed. He's the one coming to fight at 11 days notice, (that's like maybe 3days of training considering all that stupid media obligations) and having a real fighter's attitude like Nate, it's just simple as "I'm the better fighter and won." Conor was tested and failed. Conor still has many more tests ahead of him such as Frankie Edgar who many believe is more durable than Nate.
but then none of this is from Conor, it's the UFC, Media, and Fans with Conor nuts still in their mouth. In a way I think Conor is very relieved about this loss. Now he has an excuse to only focus on his training and I'm stoked to see how he'll come back.
