In the aftermath of his loss to Dustin
Poirier at UFC 257, Conor
McGregor didn’t waste much time before
mentioning the possibility of a trilogy.
According to his coach, John
Kavanagh, the Irish superstar wants the stakes raised: Ideally,
a third meeting between the two lightweights would be for the
vacant 155-pound belt.
“That’s the big drive,” Kavanagh told
ESPN. “It’s 1-1, they’re right up there in the rankings,
they’re very popular fighters. I think the two of them are a
beautiful matchup. Stylistically, it’s beautiful to watch. I’d love
to see lots and lots of rounds between the two of them.
“Dustin is obviously riding high with confidence now with more
experience and more weight. He took some of those shots. I’m sure
his confidence is super high at the moment. We have to fix that
technique with the leg and a couple of other things, as well, but
Dustin vs. Conor 3 for the belt in maybe May, that would be
amazing.”
McGregor defeated Poirier via first-round TKO in their first
meeting at UFC 178 before falling by second-round KO in the rematch
this past Saturday in Abu Dhabi. It was just his second Octagon
appearance in 29 months, but it sounds as though the SBG Ireland
representative wants to remain active in the Las Vegas-based
promotion.
Kavanagh hopes that the UFC can get McGregor back in action soon so
that his interest doesn’t wane.
“He’s already harassing everybody to get the rematch, so we would
love to rematch,” Kavanagh said. “I don’t think Dustin is against
that. If we can get the rematch before summer, that would be
amazing.
“If it’s not to be, then I guess I don’t really know. Maybe he
drifts off into the boxing. So if the MMA community could help me
out here, get behind me, and pester the UFC to give him another
fight sooner rather than later – so I don’t lose him to
boxing for six months – I would appreciate it.”