Conor McGregor’s head coach thinks “Notorious” may have punched himself out against Nate Diaz at UFC 196, which eventually led to a second-round submission loss for the Irishman (see it again here).
Now, one of Conor’s closest training partners, Gunnar Nelson, chimes on on his comrade’s defeat, saying that he agrees he may have punched himself out because the right strategy wasn’t in place to defeat the bigger fighter in the welterweight showdown.
That said, “Gunni” also told Submission Radio he would prefer to have Conor stay put in the smaller weight classes, particularly the lightweight division.
“Yeah I would have liked to see him stay in lightweight. I think that’s the more natural weight for him and I think he would have felt a lot better, you know, felt a lot better before his fights and in the camp and not having to worry about all that major weight cut. So I think it’s more natural for him. But you know, it is what it is, he makes the cut and he does it every time and it doesn’t seem to affect him much in the fight. But you know me, I’m not a big believer or supporter of this type of stuff, these heavy, big weight cuts. I’d like to see it taken completely out and I’d like to see people just going into the fights in their walking-around weight. You know, people just fighting other people that are the same weight, but they’re not cutting the weight. It seems like a dumb situation to me. Because some guy does it then everybody has to do it.”
It’s a stupid, ridiculous situation.
McGregor was supposed to face 155-pound champion Rafael dos Anjos for the division strap before “RDA” was forced out with a foot injury.
Despite the defeat to Diaz, “Mystic Mac” is still sitting pretty in the featherweight division where he reigns supreme as champion. He’ll have a chance to add to his resume as he is likely to return at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 to defend his 145-pound title, possibly against Frankie Edgar or former division king Jose Aldo.
After that, it will be interesting to see if UFC gives “Notorious” another chance to vie for the lightweight strap.