John Kavanagh Claims McGregor Camp Trained Not To Lose

Conor McGregor has been defeated for the second time in his UFC career. “The Notorious” was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov over the weekend (Sat. October 6, 2018) at UFC 229. Khabib successfully defended his lightweight title against the returning Irishman. From start to finish, Khabib seemingly dominated the fight, surprisingly, even in the stand-up department.

McGregor had his best round in the third. He was able to land some shots and defend the takedown as well as one could against Khabib. Unfortunately for McGregor, Khabib submitted him against the cage the next round after giving up his back. Recently, McGregor’s head coach, John Kavanagh, joined “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Kavanagh detailed the loss and McGregor’s preparations for the Russian.

“Mystic Mac” has called for an immediate rematch, and already having shared the Octagon with Khabib, it gives him something to work with. Joe Rogan noted that the lopsided performance might make a rematch a hard sell. Kavanagh acknowledged this, however, he also said this fight camp was focused more on not losing, rather than being offensive-minded and winning (via MMA Mania):

“I do think Round 3 showed promise. I would like to have changed things up a little bit. Specifically, a more offensive mindset. I thought defensively we did quite well, but offensively, we weren’t really where we usually are.

“Right when the fight was over, I was thinking, you know what, I was kinda going into this not to lose, but not to win. His shots weren’t as crisp as they normally are. He had opportunities to hit him, especially in the third round, and he just … seemed to be the range … something was off.”