Some of the blame for Conor McGregor’s loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 this past March was blamed on his lack of cardio after the Irishman faded in the second round before getting submitted (see it again here). Granted, “Notorious” was already training for a Lightweight title fight against Rafael dos Anjos, but nothing could prepare him for the rigors that came with facing a bigger Homer Simpson man at Welterweight who has cardio for days.
“Dad bod” be damned.
On the heels of McGregor’s first UFC loss, his head trainer John Kavanagh fine-tuned his training camp ahead of the rematch. Now with a more structured camp — and more than just 11 days to prepare for Diaz — Kavanagh revealed on “The MMA Hour” earlier today that McGregor’s internal engine has been revamped to be just like a good old fashion American muscle care with 800 horses behind it.
His words via MMA Fighting:
“I’m lucky that I have a good friend for a long time, he’s actually the guy behind the camera of TheMacLife. He’s an ex-professional cyclist. I reached out to him and his teammate from back in the day who is now a doctor, and there’s not much they don’t know about human performance. Being a cyclist, it’s not the most technically demanding sport, as compared to say mixed martial arts. In general, there’s not a lot to it, other than having a huge engine. It’s about your VO2, it’s about your heart and your cardiovascular system. So, Dana [White] helped him make a machine, and that’s what we’ve spent the last 17, 18 weeks doing, is upgrading Conor’s engine. Now it’s a super-charged, 800 horsepower, five-liter American muscle car type engine.”
“I live my life a quarter mile …”
Indeed, while McGregor and Co. have had more than enough time — and money — to prepare for the rematch, so has Diaz. He is ultimately the one who put down the tequila and stepped up on short notice prior to their initial encounter with no camp under his belt whatsoever. And if he performed good enough to derail the McGregor hype train with no training, one can only imagine what he has in store for the Irishman the second time around.
And with less pressure to win, too.
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