Förra helgen gjorde Conor McGregor sin comeback i UFC efter nästan 2 års frånvaro, är han mötte lättviktsmästaren Khabib Nurmagomedov under UFC 229. McGregor förlorade då via neck crank i fjärde ronden.
Tränaren John Kavanagh känner att McGregors prestation i mötet berodde på ringrost efter den långa frånvaron från sporten, vilket han berättade i en intervju med Ariel Helwani.
Via MMAMania:
If I could go back, maybe the mentality was a little too defensive. Conor’s a very offensive fighter and when his time to land was there – and we did have opportunities – it wasn’t there the way it was in the Eddie [Alvarez] fight, for example. The Eddie fight was off a big training camp for [Nate] Diaz 2, which was off a big training camp for Diaz 1. So we had a lot of cage time.
This one, like you said, it’s almost two years out. I said I didn’t think ring rust would play a part, but I have to be honest, when I look at it now, when I replay it in my head, I do feel like it played a little bit of a part. He didn’t quite get his shots off like he normally would. I thought defensively he did quite well defending a lot of takedowns, especially in round 3. But Khabib is amazing, amazingly effective MMA fighter. His style is suffocating, it’s relentless, and he does it better than anyone else.
In round 3 that we won, the shots that Conor were landing didn’t quite have the sting that they normally would, he wasn’t able to do things how he normally would. So yeah, if we could turn back time, I would have liked to spend more time on offense and capitalizing on those scenarios when they presented themselves, which they did.
Kavanagh berättar också att han inte pratat med McGregor sedan mötet.
He’s all over the place… I suppose in a week or two we’ll sit down and assess what went right [and] what went wrong.
This may actually surprise you but I haven’t spoken to Conor since the fight
We had a couple of texts back and forward. So, after the fight he went home. I went home as well. We were in separate houses. So I was there with Artem [Lobov], Pete [Queally] and Orlagh [Hunter]. We just stayed up Saturday night, chatting.
There were a couple of texts back and forward with Conor – saying, oh I could have done this, I could have done that – then on the Sunday I ended up going out for a little bit with Dillon [Danis] and a couple of guys from Paradigm.
It’s always been a concern, but that’s what made him who he is… we’re always vying for his attention.
Innan uppehållet segrade McGregor mot den forne mästaren Eddie Alvarez via TKO i slutet av 2016. I augusti 2017 möttd McGregor sedan boxningsmästaren Floyd Mayweather, där han förlorade via TKO i rond 10.
