Conor McGregor needs to ‘harden himself as a man’ to win Dustin Poirier trilogy, says ex-UFC opponent Eddie Alvarez

EDDIE ALVAREZ says Conor McGregor needs to ‘harden himself as a man’ if he wants to beat Dustin Poirier in their trilogy bout. McGregor suffered a catastrophic UFC return in January, as he was knocked out in two rounds by Poirier, who he comfortably beat in 2014. UFC president Dana White cast doubt over McGregor’s […]

EDDIE ALVAREZ says Conor McGregor needs to ‘harden himself as a man’ if he wants to beat Dustin Poirier in their trilogy bout.

McGregor suffered a catastrophic UFC return in January, as he was knocked out in two rounds by Poirier, who he comfortably beat in 2014.

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Conor McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez in 2016[/caption]

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Conor McGregor was beaten by Dustin Poirier in January[/caption]

UFC president Dana White cast doubt over McGregor’s desire, having watched the multimillionaire arrive on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi on a luxury yacht.

And UFC legend Georges St-Pierre, 39, recently told the Irishman to get out of his ‘comfort zone’ by having others conduct his training camp.

Ex-champion Alvarez, beaten by McGregor in 2016, has a similar view, and urged his old rival to find his hunger again… believing it has been diminished by his ever rising net worth.

He told Fanatics View: “When you have $100 million in the bank, It’s the opposite of fighting.

“Fighting is having to deal with adversity every day, being told no. Having to wake up.

“Doing things that you don’t necessarily want to do, and that requires discipline and it hardens you, and you become a good fighter as a byproduct of all these things that happened throughout your life.

“And the idea of having $100 million in the bank, where everyone tells you yes, you get to make your own schedule and you get to wake up when you want, it’s the opposite of having to be a fighter, it actually softens you.

“I feel like for Conor to come back, he needs to harden himself as a man. In order to do that, he needs to get rid of all those things, maybe go away.

“Get out of that world and become hardened again over time.”

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McGregor, 32, was in a similar situation in March 2016, when he suffered his first UFC defeat, a second round submission to Nate Diaz.

The same questions were asked over his future, but McGregor responded in emphatic fashion, avenging his loss to Diaz five months later in their rematch.

Now he has the chance to do the same, as talks progress for a trilogy against Poirier, 32, likely to fall in July.