5 reasons why Conor McGregor should part ways with head coach John Kavanagh
Conor McGregor recently lost his highly anticipated trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier in the main event at UFC 264. This was McGregor's second consecutive loss to Poirier after 'The Diamond' handed him the first knockout loss of his career at UFC 257 earlier this year.
Once a feared knockout artist, the Irishman has now suddenly gone 1-3 in his last four UFC outings. At the age of 33, the time might be ripe for Conor McGregor to consider bringing in some changes to his training camp.
Since his days on the Irish MMA circuit, Conor McGregor has stuck with his head coach John Kavanagh. Kavanagh had not long retired from his own MMA career when Conor McGregor fell into his hands. Together, along with striking coach Owen Roddy, they went on to win the Cage Warriors featherweight and lightweight titles before McGregor was signed by the UFC.
While Conor McGregor and John Kavanagh will go down as one of the greatest coach-pupil pairs in MMA history, their heyday might be a thing of the past. As we await a comeback from the Irishman, let's look at five reasons why Conor McGregor should part ways with head coach John Kavanagh:
#5. Conor McGregor's striking has seen a steady decline
Conor McGregor has knocked out his opponent in 19 out of the 22 professional wins of his career. However, the only opponent McGregor has managed to knockout in almost five years was Donald Cerrone, who was well past his prime.
Taking into account his consecutive TKO defeats against Dustin Poirier, it might be safe to say that Conor McGregor is not the striker he used to be. However, there have been no visible attempts from his camp to identify the problem and come up with a solution. Despite losing to Poirier at the start of the year, McGregor's coaches failed to incorporate any significant changes in his striking game before the rubber match.
Long gone are the days when McGregor maneuvered out of Jose Aldo's left hand and landed his own flush shot down the pipe. In the short duration that the trilogy fight lasted, Dustin Poirier was clearly dominating McGregor in the standup game, even forcing the Irishman to jump for a guillotine. To rebuild his image as a feared knockout artist, Conor McGregor should seriously consider changing his coach.