Mike Brown says Conor McGregor seems to have lost his sharp wit and interesting trash talk.
Conor McGregor has had iconic moments promoting fights, and has been known to put out some witty comebacks during his time as champion. For his third bout with Dustin Poirier though, it devolved to just uninteresting taunts devoid of any creativity, with McGregor mostly spewing death threats and crass insults towards his opponent’s wife.
Poirier’s coach Mike Brown thinks that McGregor has really regressed, not just with his fighting ability, but also his wit and trash talk.
“I’m not exactly certain what it is, but yeah, he did seem much sharper with his tongue in the past,” Brown told MMA Fighting. “Maybe he’s in a tough spot? I don’t know what it is, but it also appears he has no lines anymore. He used to have some lines, some ethical and moral lines, but those seem to have gone away.
“Yeah he doesn’t seem to be quite the same fighter both in the ring, and with him promotion-wise too. Not sure what is is, but something seems different.”
As for all the talk about a possible fourth fight coming from both Dana White and McGregor, Brown says that he doesn’t think it’s necessary, but is confident his pupil takes it either way.
“On the scorecards, two judges had it 10-8,” the former WEC champion stated. “This was from Dustin being on top dropping those elbows and showing his dominance, imposing his will. That’s what that was all about.
“If you look at the history of both of these guys, one of them gets stronger as the fight goes and one of them doesn’t. Conor was going to be most dangerous in the first, and I felt like as the fight went, it was only going to get easier,” Brown said.
“(McGregor has) changed the game, done so much for the sport. He’s the biggest star the sport has ever seen. He brings a lot of eyeballs. He’s done a lot of great things but I think skill wise, we’ve got the superior fighter with Dustin.”