Conor McGregor’s camp hasn’t said much since we saw Conor leave the T-Mobile Arena on a stretcher. McGregor’s broken leg settled in a cast, he amped up the crowd with waving arms, despite suffering a brutal loss at the hands of Dustin Poirier. McGregor hasn’t fought twice in a year since 2016, nor has he lost two fights in a row – let alone by knockout – in his entire career.
McGregor’s longtime head coach, John Kavanagh, gave a thirty-minute breakdown of the fight through Instagram, discussing the Irish star’s future in the sport, and each exchange over the course of the fight.
“The lowest lows”: McGregor’s Head Coach Reacts to Poirier Trilogy Fight
“He’s in hospital right now, I’ll be heading over after this to check in on him.
You know, it’s a bitter pill to swallow, this sport has the highest highs and lowest lows. We got to take some time to assess what the next move is. Obviously now, rehab and recovery is where it’s at.”
Kavanagh elaborated on the strategy they worked on leading up to the fight: “I studied Dustin a lot on the fence, his fight with Holloway for example.
I knew Dustin’s head would be there for the guillotine. So we had drilled that a lot. Conor has a very very strong guillotine.
A slight tactical error going to the back with it. We drilled, getting the finish on the feet, or at least it would make the takedown attempt go away and then we’d be back to the center of the Octagon and back to boxing.”
McGregor’s failed guillotine attempt seemingly gassed the Irishman early in round one, leaving him susceptible to Dustin Poirier’s lethal ground-and-pound game.
“There was a bit of a struggle to get the head free and then he landed some decent ground and pound.
Most of it on the forearms and the gloves, Conor had no marks, no bruises, swelling, cuts, anything like that.”
Kavanagh was happy with the round, with the game plan to mimic the Aldo fight, creating space, sliding around the Octagon and taking advantage of McGregor’s unorthodox southpaw striking angles. Then came the leg break.
“He very aggressively threw that kick. Dustin shelled with that lead hand, and the foot wraps around the elbow in a similar fashion to Weidman and Silva, they wrapped around the shin. Conor wrapped his shin around the elbow.
He stands back on it and you can see the bone almost protrude through the skin. I don’t know how he didn’t fall there. He comes in there, they both exchange crosses, they both miss with their back hands, he goes to step back on it and that’s when there’s that horrifying fold underneath.”
Kavanagh described the outcome as “bitterly disappointing”, but he doesn’t see this as the end for Conor McGregor: “I think we have a couple of years of this ahead of us.”
The fight world will have to wait and see while McGregor recovers from this brutal injury. Do you think McGregor will return to the Octagon or is he out of serious title contention for good? Let us know in the comments.
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