Conor McGregor more focused on Mixed Martial Arts, blames boxing training for Poirier loss
Conor McGregor is preparing for his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier. Each fighter holds a win over the other and the better man will walk away with bragging rights and a possible title shot on Saturday night at UFC 264. McGregor feels he is better than ever coming into this third fight with Poirier and has taken some time to reflect on the loss back in January and what led to that loss.
“Just focus on mixed martial arts, first of all,” McGregor told The Mac Life about his training for UFC 264. “It was an 85% camp for boxing, for Manny Pacquiao. That’s how the fight came about. It was gonna be a charity event, not even under the UFC banner. It was just because he was a southpaw and I felt a bit of pity for him and whatnot, said I’d help him out. And that’s it.”
McGregor is referring to the way the UFC 257 bout came to be. McGregor first reached out to Poirier on Twitter about a charity fight to help out Poireir’s cause, The Good Fight. After the ball began rolling, the UFC got involved and the matchup has made official. Whether or not McGregor was actually training for a boxing match with Manny Pacquiao is true, that is unknown, but then why make the fight official? McGregor could have enlisted Poirier to help him train and then donate to his cause. Now the two are headed towards a third bout and McGregor has now lost two of his last three.
“It went the way it went and got a setback in there, but setbacks are a beautiful thing. Defeat is the secret ingredient to success, I say, and it’s put me right where I need to be.”
Despite the loss, Conor McGregor is still ranked among the best in the UFC. He is still a huge draw and if he wants to box and then fight for a UFC title he would be the only fighter to be able to do so. It seems as if he is set on getting back in the UFC win column against Poirier. He is motivated and ready to make a splash at UFC 264.
