Conor McGregor will find it ‘very difficult’ to be crowned UFC champion again as he gears up for blockbuster return
CONOR MCGREGOR will find it ‘very difficult’ to recapture his old form and mount a run for the UFC lightweight title.
The UFC’s first simultaneous two-division champion has lost three of his last five octagon outings – suffering back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier last year.
McGregor, at times, has looked like a shadow of the fighter who effortlessly dethroned Eddie Alvarez as 155lb champ at UFC 205 in November 2016.
And fellow former two-division champ Daniel Cormier believes The Notorious will be hard-pressed to recapture his glory days.
The Monster Energy Athlete said: “I think that’s hard to expect him to get back to where he was, it would be very difficult.
“The sport constantly evolves. The guys are better. The guys are, you know, more in shape, ready to go.
“They now understand what they have in front of them.
“I think one of the biggest things that Conor had for himself, was that nobody really had seen him. Nobody had seen that type of striker back in 2014/2015.
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“Now, like, those guys are littered around weight classes, and they’ve gotten used to dealing with them.
“And I think that’s why he’s come into the problems that he’s had. Because it’s not new anymore.”
Despite not having won a fight at lightweight in nearly six years, McGregor is seemingly in contention to face the winner of Charles Oliveira’s title defence against Justin Gaethje in May.
That comes as no surprise to Cormier, who added: “His rules are different from everyone else.
“He’s constantly in contention regardless of what’s happening in the fights. Now he’s lost. I mean, he’s lost three fights in a row now. So he’s lost, like two fights in a row, three or four.
“But if he comes back, and he has a great performance, he’ll be right away back into contention.
“I think what we’ll see is somebody manageable. Right, the Cowboy (Cerrone) fight was someone manageable.
“So someone with high name value, but not necessarily the threat of a Dustin Poirier.”
McGregor is currently recovering from the horrific broken leg he suffered in his trilogy fight with Poirier last July.
The Irishman has made a faster-than-expected recovery from the nasty break, although his co-manager doesn’t foresee a summer return coming to fruition.
Paradigm Sports Senior VP Tim Simpson said during an appearance on The MMA Hour: “He doesn’t need to come back, the fact he is who he is and what he has achieved financially and athletically.
“After that injury, it was like, ‘Now might be the time’. But he wants to fight again which to me is baffling and says a lot about him.”
“I don’t think it will be in the summer but it will definitely be some stage this year.
“Maybe we see when the lightweight title fight happens and go then.
“He will fight this year and it is a credit to him, he has no real reason to fight other than the fact he wants to and that is impressive.”
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