Conor McGregor’s teammate Artem Lobov says Irishman did not give Dustin Poirier the ‘respect he deserved’ earlier than UFC 257 loss in final battle

Followers can count on a completely targeted Conor McGregor towards Dustin Poirier when the pair meet to finish their trilogy.

The Irishman was knocked out at UFC 257 on Combat Island in January, however might not have been absolutely targeted on his opponent, his teammate coaching companion Artem Lobov steered.

McGregor wasted little time in arranging a rematch and now they’ll battle it out in entrance of a packed enviornment in Las Vegas at UFC 264 on July 10.

Going into the battle – a rematch of their 2014 encoutner – McGregor stated he was within the form of his life, however had his legs devastated by Poirier’s kicks and was stopped within the second spherical.

He admitted to talkSPORT after the battle he’d had one eye on going through Manny Pacquiao in a boxing match and his coach John Kavanagh additionally advised talkSPORT the coaching camp had closely targeted on boxing.

That proved to be McGregor’s downfall and Lobov – who departed UFC in 2019 – says it’s true McGregor didn’t give Poirier the respect he deserves.

“Completely and to be sincere, it wasn’t like he wasn’t absolutely targeted or something, he simply didn’t give Dustin the respect he deserved,” he advised BJPenn.com. 

“He was extra eager about boxing Manny after the battle and was preparing for that as Conor noticed that because the problem and Dustin was simply going to be a warmup battle. 

“Clearly, it didn’t work out that manner. Dustin did his homework and improved lots.”

McGregor defeated Poirier by way of first spherical knockout of their first battle when the 2 have been rising featherweights.

Lower than two years later, McGregor was knocking out Jose Aldo for the title, having two of essentially the most profitable fights ever with Nate Diaz earlier than turning into the first-ever double champion in UFC historical past.

For Poirier, he needed to rebuild himself and he battled his method to the highest years later, turning into interim light-weight champion in 2019. He would fall to Khabib Nurmagomedov when attempting to turn into the undisputed champion, however make no mistake, Poirier is an elite fighter.

McGregor has been within the gymnasium like a mad man getting ready for this rubber stamp battle and plenty of really feel he must win it to retain his celebrity standing and field workplace attraction.

The UFC 257 conflict is the joint-second highest purchased UFC PPV ever, so a large purchase fee is predicted as soon as once more for the deciding battle between the pair.