Conor McGregor tipped to shed ‘one-trick pony’ tag against Dustin Poirier

Conor McGregor has been backed to prove he has more weapons in his arsenal than his left hand when he fights Dustin Poirier.

McGregor's back hand helped him become a two-weight world champion as he demolished first Jose Aldo and then Eddie Alvarez.

Nineteen of his career victories have come by KO, including his first-round victory over Poirier in their first meeting over six years ago

But he proved an old dog can learn new tricks when he used shoulder strikes to stop Donald Cerrone inside 40 seconds.

And former UFC title contender and respected analyst Dan Hardy expects McGregor to produce more new material at UFC 257.

"We only saw 40 seconds in his last fight but what we did see – the shoulder strikes and then the finish – was indicative of the fact he's constantly growing and finding ways to push the MMA game," he told Mirror Fighting .

"I'm expecting to see new things from him. I think he's going to want the knockout in the first two minutes but if we don't see that I think we are going to see some other elements to his game, an expanded kicking game and probably some conditioning as well if he feels his body will hold up to it.

"He's got all the money in the world and all the people around him to get to where he needs to be and I'm expecting him to look great.

"The very fact he's coming back to fight shows he's still competitive and that he feels he has a lot to prove.

"I think there are two things hanging over him; one is that he's never won a belt and defended it and the other is that other fighters will call him a one-trick pony and that will really irritate him.

"Even though that one trick is enough to take out the majority of the division, there is a lot more to his game and because he's so effective at that, we've been robbed of seeing the rest of his game and I think he wants to prove to everybody that he's not a left hand, he's an MMA fighter."

BT Sport Box Office will show UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 2 exclusively live from 3am on Saturday,  January 23.

UFC 257 can be watched on on BT TV, Virgin TV, Sky, online via the web or the BT Sport Box Office App and is available to buy at www.bt.com/sportboxoffice

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