Conor is a strange one, because he has his super fans who will always talk him up, and he has his detractors on the other side who want to bring him down. The fact is though, he is a brilliant fighter.
He has now dismantled Cowboy, Alvarez, Aldo etc... Guys who stand on their feet and are not absolutely world class, get annihilated.
He has beaten Mendez, Diaz, Poirier and a much younger Holloway too.
I think the level of grapplers and wrestlers in MMA now will cause him a problem. Even at only 31, it would be very hard for him to keep guys like Khabib and Usman at bay for five rounds. Grapplers that have been doing it since they were little and can crack you if you only worry about takedowns.
That, built in with their crazy stamina, would make it very difficult for him to evolve to be able to beat them at this stage of his career.
As a pure stand-up fighter though, there have been few better in the history of the UFC.
I'd reserve judgement on that (at this weight class) until he's been in there with some of the dynamite hitters who won't freeze and he has to dismantle. When it was announced he was coming back at the weight he did, it was laughed at by the big dogs in the division who told him he better go back down before they get their hands on him (Usman being the most vocal).
Anderson mentioned Wonderboy in his post, to my mind, that's a massive overreach for Conor as Wonderboy is the real deal when it comes to stand up, but who knows? It would be a revelation he went in there with him and beat him, to me.
In terms of pure stand-up Conor's done well, but I wouldn't put him up there with his record yet, but if he were to go in there and hang with the guys being talked about, I would put him up a level in my own rankings. Edwards, Woodley, Thompson, Masvidal - in pure stand up, it would be a leap for Conor because he's now at a weight where his chin is going to get tested in a way it wasn't at lightweight, which, strategically is a different proposition and one that asks the question of how he'd approach these guys - at the lighter weights, Conor is more brazen as he walks his man down.
Just, I wouldn't extrapolate any of this from the fight we just saw, as it was already known that he hits hard and is smart and a finisher - the things that need to be tested in this division weren't and it leaves us none-the-wiser on where Conor is as a returnee.