Conor McGregor going into to Poirier trilogy with different ‘mentality’ as coach admits skills need to be ‘re-ignited’
CONOR MCGREGOR’s head coach insists the Irishman will go into his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier with an ‘MMA mindset’.
The former two-division champion suffered a second-round KO loss to his old featherweight rival in January in the main event of UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi.
McGregor, 32, attributed his third loss inside the octagon to his boxing-heavy approach, which left him susceptible to Poirier’s debilitating leg kicks.
And coach John Kavanagh is confident his most famous student has learned from his ill-fated mistake.
He told BT Sport: “We have to fix that technical detail, which it’s not like having to fix everything.
“It’s fixing a small enough area, get that back into the whole game, not going in with a sort of with a boxing mentality, going in with an MMA mentality.
“Conor was always famous for his movement, his ability to change stances, his bounce as he would say.
“We got to bring that back.
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“It’s there, it’s under the hood, it’s not skills that have to be learned even relearned, they just have to be re-ignited.
“And we have already started that process.
“So, wouldn’t it be great to do it again in the summer, maybe in Vegas in front of 20,000 screaming people if we can get the world back open again.”
Less than two months removed from McGregor‘s unsuccessful return to the lightweight division, Kavanagh believes the Dubliner already has a better handle on dealing crippling calf kicks.
The SBG Ireland chief said: “We want to get that one back.
“We’ve got to figure out these friggin’ calf kicks. How to use them and to defend them.
“We’re pretty confident we have that sorted out now.”
UFC kingpin Dana White reckons McGregor underestimated Poirier going to their rematch but insists The Notorious won’t make that same mistake again.
He told BT Sport: “I don’t think there has to be trash talk or any of that stuff.
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“I think, and I don’t know if this is true, I mean only Conor can answer this question.
“I think Conor was overlooking Dustin and like, ‘Let me just get through this and onto other things.'”
He added: “I think Conor will take this fight way more serious than he took the last one.”
The third instalment of McGregor vs Poirier is in the works for the summer, with the fight expected to take place in either July or August.