It is needless to say that Conor McGregor is one of the greatest combat sports athletes to have ever put a foot inside the octagon. His achievements inside the octagon like becoming the first UFC double champ and several other feats speak volumes about the contribution to the growth of MMA.
However, in the past few years, The Notorious has not performed up to high expectations and is currently going through a rough patch. After his lengthy layoff from the UFC for almost two years, The Irishman returned to the octagon to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title in 2018.
Khabib dominated this bout from start to finish and submitted Conor in the fourth round to extend his undefeated streak. Since that loss, McGregor has fought thrice and has only won once against Donald Cerrone. The Notorious is currently on a two-fight losing skid and consequently, there are a lot of question marks regarding his future.
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For instance, fans are raising a point that McGregor who is 33 years old now should move on and change his longtime coach John Kavanagh.
How will parting ways with John Kavanagh and SBG Ireland help Conor McGregor?
As mentioned above many analysts, fighters and fans have shared their opinion that Conor McGregor should change his coaching camp. Sticking to his old coach John Kavanagh was justified until his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier as they have been together for over a decade now.
But the Irishman’s overall game hasn’t improved since his defeat to Khabib at UFC 229. McGregor’s takedown defense has not improved and Poirier took great advantage of this weakness in both the matchups.
Besides, Poirier also dominated the rematch with his striking which is so unusual as McGregor is the one who is always on the front foot. There weren’t many changes in the Notorious’ gameplan in the trilogy as The Diamond looked strong with his striking and ground control.
Apart from that, McGregor also made a big mistake of getting in a worse position after locking in a guillotine choke. Usually, when a fighter loses in such fashion, they change camps and improve on their weaknesses. A big example is Deiveson Figueiredo changing camps and training with Cejudo after his submission loss to Moreno in the rematch.
The Brazilian’s improvement in both striking and grappling was on display as he outclassed the Mexican and reclaimed his title in the trilogy bout. Therefore a change in training camp would give him a breath of fresh air and more importantly he could improve his grappling somewhere else.
His growth under Kavanagh has been sluggish and Conor could face some more issues going forward. Although as of now there are no signs of the Notorious parting ways with John Kavanagh and SBG Ireland. But one cannot rule out a change in McGregor’s heart in the future.
