Conor
McGregor’s fight-ending injury at
UFC 264 may have been caused in part by a pre-existing
injury.
According to SBG Ireland head trainer John
Kavanagh, McGregor suffered an ankle injury during camp that
could have played a role in the apparent break that ended his
trilogy with Dustin
Poirier after one round.
“A little bit of that ankle injury has been aggravated during
camp,” Kavanagh said during an Instagram Q&A
(transcription via
MMAjunkie.com). “We got a scan on it. Did that have a small
part to play in weakening it? I don’t know. We were (with a doctor)
a couple weeks ago to get a scan on the ankle. … There might’ve
been something in there. It would seem unusual that a young,
healthy, fit man could wrap his foot around an elbow and without
there being something (wrong) there before. You can play those
guessing games all day long.”
Poirier, meanwhile, claimed in his post-fight interview that the
injury occurred due to a checked kick earlier in the fight.
“He fractured it on one of the checks at the beginning of the
fight, then it broke on a punch, for sure,” Poirier said in the
Octagon. “I pointed at him at the beginning of the fight, that’s
when I checked a kick, that’s when it cracked.”
Kavanagh, meanwhile, believes he can pinpoint the moment in the
fight where McGregor suffered the break.
“He throws a leg kick, and then he threw a teep,” Kavanagh said.
“That’s clearly where the fracture happened. He threw it aggressive
kick, Dustin shelled with the lead hand and the foot wraps around
the elbow in a similar fashion to [Anderson] Silva and [Chris]
Weidman. They wrapped their foot around the shin, he wrapped his
shin around the elbow.”
Kavanagh had a largely positive assessment of the fight before the
unfortunate ending. McGregor began the fight attacking with a
variety of kicks, targeting Poirier’s legs in particular. And even
though the former two-division champ appeared to be in danger on
his back later in the round, the trainer was confident his fighter
was in a positive place had the fight continued.
“It was going fantastic,” Kavanagh said. “I thought he looked
really, really good in there. … I wasn’t concerned at all. I was
actually really, really happy. … At the 4:30 mark or even the 4:45
mark, everything is gravy. I thought energy looked good, technique
looked good. A few adjustments in between rounds and I thought
Round 2 we were well on track to getting a finish there or keep the
rhythm going for the rest of the fight.
“Credit to Dustin. He won. It’s an unfulfilling end to the night. …
It doesn’t feel properly finished. (There was no) closure.”