UFC 264: What must McGregor change if he is to beat Poirier?
Go back to ‘no rest Sundays’, forget Manny Pacquiao mega-fight and combat calf kicks! Conor McGregor has vowed to avenge his Fight Island defeat to Dustin Poirier… so, what must ‘Notorious’ change if he is to win huge UFC 264 lightweight clash?
- Conor McGregor is seeking to avenge his UFC 257 loss to Dustin Poirier in July
- The Irishman, 32, suffered a second-round knockout defeat to the American
- McGregor must go back to the drawing board if he is to turn the result around
- Stopping calf kicks and a change in approach will go a long way for McGregor
‘Win or learn’ is the phrase used by Conor McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, and with less than 30 days until the Irishman’s highly-anticipated trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier, we will soon discover what the ‘Notorious’ has learnt since January.
McGregor, 32, was served a rude awakening on his return to the Octagon at UFC 257.
With sights set on a grudge rematch against Khabib Nurmagomedov and a boxing bout against Manny Pacquiao, the Irishman fell short in dramatic fashion as Dustin Poirier sensationally stopped his rival, handing him his first loss by knockout.
‘It’s hard to overcome inactivity over long periods of time,’ McGregor said after his second round TKO defeat.
Conor McGregor will seek to avenge his surprise UFC 257 defeat to Dustin Poirier next month
‘I have to dust it off and that’s it and that is what I will do. I need activity guys, come on. You don’t get away with inactivity in this business. I am gutted man. It is a tough one to swallow.’
McGregor has had five months to stew on that spectacular result on Fight Island, and just when you thought his UFC 257 defeat would have severely hampered his chances of a tilt at UFC gold, the Irishman could book himself a shot against Charles Oliveira with victory on July 11.
So, what must McGregor do differently in order to change the outcome when he meets Poirier in Las Vegas at UFC 264? Sportsmail takes a look at the adjustments needed for victory.
The Irishman lost to Poirier on Fight Island and will need to make changes to redeem himself
Stop the calf kicks… and hooks!
McGregor bemoaned his inactivity after his shock defeat and he will certainly reflect how his long spell out of the Octagon resulted in him overlooking a debilitating weapon used by Poirier.
The calf kick has advanced in the years following McGregor’s double champ glory, with the strike an effective tool used to upset the rhythm of a fighter, particularly those who rely on striking.
McGregor was blindsided by the strike on January 24 and failed to check the wicked strikes from Poirier throughout the contest.
Poirier had lots of joy with calf strikes, and the potent weapon destabilised the Irishman
The calf kicks later opened up lead right hooks that unbalanced McGregor and fell him
Ultimately, Poirier’s patience with the calf kicks was rewarded hugely. With McGregor on unsteady legs, the American was able to land up top and fell the Irishman to seal victory.
‘We have got to figure out these fr***ing calf kicks, how to use them and defend them but we are pretty confident we have them sorted out now,’ Kavanagh told BT Sport in March. ‘I think he looked excellent everywhere else.’
The SBG head coach makes a fair point. McGregor looked particularly good with his hands for the duration of the contest, although he will be concerned by the regularity in which Poirier landed one particular shot.
The Diamond had plenty of joy with the check hook, using his lead right hand to arch a shot on McGregor’s chin. On more than one occasion did Poirier admire his counter striking and made McGregor fully aware that he was capable of timing that strike to perfection.
John Kavanagh says that McGregor’s team will be prepared for the calf kicks and hooks
‘He had this plan, he had the check hook and the calf kick and they were just going to keep doing it and hope it would work and it did,’ Kavanagh added.
The glaring omission from McGregor’s game that night was his lack of zip, the ability to land his shots and bounce out of the danger zone to give his opponents no time to react, as he did against Eddie Alvarez, and Poirier in their first fight in 2014.
‘We have to fix that technical detail, it’s a small enough area, Conor was always famous for his movement, his bounce, and we have got to bring that back,’ the SBG coach said. ‘These things don’t have to be re-learnt, they have to be re-ignited.’
If McGregor is able to make those tweaks and stifle Poirier’s best weapons, he will be in good stead to win the trilogy.
Focus on Dustin Poirier
Now, this may sound an obvious one, but it is an important point to note.
It is fair to say that McGregor arrived on Fight Island with his eye not entirely on the target, with the Irishman having his mind set on two huge fights, neither of which involved Poirier.
The Notorious had been campaigning hard to entice arch rival Nurmagomedov out of retirement and back into the Octagon, with McGregor bidding to avenge his 2018 defeat to the unbeaten Dagestani.
McGregor arrived on Fight Island with his eye not firmly on the target ahead of UFC 257
The 32-year-old had also been deep in talks with boxing legend Pacquiao over a mega-money crossover bout akin to his Floyd Mayweather fight in 2017.
Yet nobody had informed McGregor that both of those bouts would slip away with defeat to Poirier, and the American capitalised on McGregor’s eagerness to adopt a boxing style with those crunching leg kicks.
‘[I was] a little single disciplined in my approach and stance with mostly boxing,’ McGregor reflected on Instagram. ‘It’s what I get for picking this bout and opponent as a precursor to a boxing match against Pacman.
‘I deserved to get the legs kicked off me going in with this thinking.’
McGregor had been calling for a rematch with rival Khabib Nurmagomedov (right) and was understood to be on the cusp of facing Manny Pacquiao (left) in a boxing bout
This time, McGregor must be solely focused on the task at hand in Poirier (right) on July 11
‘We got a bit obsessed with the boxing,’ Kavanagh admitted.
‘There was a talk of a big boxing fight after that. Our bad, our mistake, our fault. No one to blame but we have got to make sure we spin all the other plates and get ready for the rematch.’
It is a simple mantra wheeled out by fighters time and again, a tiresome line that does not make for a great headline but its importance should not be overlooked: focus on the opponent in front of you.
A single-minded view will go a long way for McGregor to overturn January’s defeat.
Go back to his old school mentality
To that end, McGregor may want to take that single-minded approach to his wider preparations and training camp for his July 11 bout.
The Irishman rocked up on Fight Island on a luxury yacht accompanied by his loved ones, including his two young children, as the Notorious soaked up the sun in enviable surroundings.
Those scenes are a far cry from the young, ambitious McGregor that locked himself away with his camp, fine-tuning his skills before being unleashed on the featherweight division.
The 32-year-old spent fight week on a luxury yacht surrounded by his loved ones in January
UFC chief Dana White questioned whether McGregor has lost his hunger to train hard
McGregor has faced calls to ditch the silk sheets and go back to that intense environment, including from UFC president Dana White, and the Irishman has admitted that it has been difficult to balance family commitments and training for fights against the world’s best.
‘I am going to do this fight away from the family also, for a change,’ he tweeted.
‘Fights and boppies and cuddles is a hard one to balance. I’m going into this one a wild dog.’
The Irishman says that he will return to the mentality that saw him climb the rankings
McGregor told fans he would go back to ‘no rest Sundays’ as he did to become champion
The Irishman also said that he would adopt the same approach used for his UFC debut eight years ago, when he was scheduled to fight on nine weeks notice against Marcus Brimmage. McGregor won the fight by first round knockout.
‘My UFC debut I found out 9 weeks out. I took a week to get right from not training/partying, and then 8 weeks out I moved to my sisters apt which was close to the gym.
‘I woke up, trained, walked back to apartment, ate my meals and rested, trained again, back to apt, sleep, repeat.
If McGregor is as hungry as he was for his UFC debut eight years ago, he will be tough to beat
‘Double skills work. I also didn’t take rest days unless I absolutely had to. Not one. Not even a Sunday.
‘I will take this approach again for my comeback fight. I didn’t become UFC champ champ with this method but I did become UFC 145 champion. Also the cage warrior champ champ,’ McGregor concluded.
If McGregor is to bring that same young and hungry mentality to the cage next month, you would not bet against him righting the wrongs of January.
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