It’s been some time since we last saw former two-division Cage Warriors and UFC champion Conor McGregor compete inside the octagon, a whole 16 months in fact, where he lost his second consecutive bout against former interim champion Dustin Poirier in 2021.
Following his knockout defeat to Poirier earlier that year in January, they were now 1-1 against one another, and it needed to be settled. McGregor TKO’d Poirier in the opening round of their first fight back at UFC 178 in September of 2014 prior to their rematch at UFC 257.
McGregor got injured in their trilogy bout, breaking his leg toward the end of the first round, resulting in another TKO defeat.
Luckily for McGregor and his fans however, in recent months, he’s finally been able to train to the fullest of his capabilities without restrictions.
Though McGregor isn’t expected to compete again until the first, or potentially the second quarter of 2023, that hasn’t stopped him from regularly posting videos of himself training.
We all know McGregor to be one of, if not the slickest and most dangerous striker in the sport of MMA, 19 of his 22 career victories coming via knockout. However, he’s been working on his wrestling and grappling lately, as his most recent video footage shows.
McGregor wrote the following in the videos caption: “Shit hot everywhere. The real goat. There’s not a place I’m not great. Some of your goats can’t even kick. Watch my wrist work here. At some points you see my opponent has the illusion of the control of my wrist but I use this silliness to open doors with it. I open the door to go right into full mount.
“Then later I open the door right to the rib cage for my knee to land flush. It’s using the opponents control of your wrist as a lever. Watch and see can you see. Leave a comment and tag your pal, the Mac is back, with another lesson on defend and attack.”
Aside from his pair of back-to-back defeats to Dustin Poirier in his last two outings, McGregor had only lost four times, all four via submission, one of which was later avenged.
If he can keep opponents from taking him down, he’s going to be a very tough man to beat once again.
Does ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor return to form next year in 2023?
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