Conor McGregor suffered a loss due to an unfortunate lower tibia injury against Dustin Poirier in the much-anticipated trilogy fight at UFC 264. As a result, many well-known analysts were quick to jump the gun that McGregor should make a change in his coaching staff. This is because the Irishman was dominated by Poirier in the first round. Furthermore, it looked like McGregor had taken some heavy damage and had no answers for Poirier’s grappling.
From this list of distinguished analysts, Michael Bisping who is a retired UFC superstar has made a bold statement that The Notorious should fire John Kavanagh. The Count who works as a commentator in the UFC and gives his analysis on the fights has expressed his views on how the fight turned out and criticized Kavanagh’s comments in the BT-Sport’s UFC 264 post-fight show.
“Just like his coach John Kavanagh said, he said ‘oh, I saw nothing that concerned me. I knew that in the second round we were getting the knockout. Nothing else in there concerned me at all.’ If that’s true, John Kavanagh, Conor should fire you immediately,”
“That was very concerning, you were on your back and you were getting dominated. It was a 10-8 round, which’s concerning. You don’t want to get your ass kicked, simple as that and that was what was happening.”
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How has John Kavanagh impacted Conor McGregor’s career and is it time to move on?
Conor McGregor was once a force to reckon with who walked over big names like Eddie Alvarez, Dustin Poirier, Jose Aldo, and Max Holloway. However, the Irishman would have not been able to succeed without the guidance of his head coach John Kavanagh. He improved McGregor’s wrestling and helped him in teaching Jiu-Jutsu. Furthermore, John was the mastermind who decided the tactics for McGregor’s big fights.
Therefore John Kavanagh has been a prominent figure in Conor McGregor’s life. He was there with The Notorious since the start of his career and as a result, the former lightweight champion has always remained loyal to him. However, Kavanagh seems to have lost his magical touch as he has been unable to help McGregor in his last few fights. This is because Conor has been completely outclassed and suffered horrible defeats in his recent run.
Furthermore, Kavanagh has not been able to adapt to the changes in the sport and has not helped Conor add new weapons to his arsenal. Therefore it looks like the time has come for Conor McGregor to part ways with his head coach if he wants to make any progress in this sport in the future.
In the end, The Notorious has to accept this defeat and currently focus on recovering and making a comeback from this injury. Later on, the Irishman can decide whether to make changes in his coaching staff. However, it doesn’t look like the former two-division champion will make any alterations by sacking his long-time coach John Kavanagh.
Also Read: Conor McGregor Suspended for Six Months Following the Career Threatening Leg Injury at UFC 264