{"id":372211,"date":"2020-12-28T12:42:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T20:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=372211"},"modified":"2020-12-28T12:42:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T20:42:02","slug":"gaethje-chandler-slightly-easier-fight-for-conor-mcgregor-than-poirier-says-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/gaethje-chandler-slightly-easier-fight-for-conor-mcgregor-than-poirier-says-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaethje, Chandler “slightly easier” fight for Conor McGregor than Poirier, says coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coach John Kavanagh believes Dustin Poirier is a tougher opponent for Conor McGregor than Justin Gaethje or Michael Chandler.<\/p>\n

Kavanagh has long served as McGregor’s head coach. During a recent interview with TheMacLife<\/a>, he rated McGregor’s next opponent, Poirier, against two other top lightweights in Gaethje and Chandler.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think in terms of opponent difficulty levels, Dustin would be the top of that group,\u201d Kavanagh said.\u00a0\u201cSo if one is replacing Dustin, there\u2019s no nice way of saying it, but it\u2019s a slightly easier fight. Dustin is the best of those guys, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGregor already holds a victory over Poirier, having scored a first-round knockout win over his American rival in the featherweight division back in 2014. While Kavanagh views Poirier as a difficult foe nonetheless, he believes McGregor will get the job done again, as he’s one of the two best lightweights on earth.<\/p>\n

The other, of course, is UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov<\/a>, who defeated McGregor in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Conor and Khabib are the two best lightweights, and it would be for me, of course from a coaching perspective, it would be phenomenal to see that contest again,\u201d Kavanagh said. \u201cWill he come back? You\u2019re asking the wrong guy. That\u2019s Khabib. He seems the type of guy that if he says something, that\u2019s it, but like Dana has hinted, it seems to me there might be some wiggle room in those promises made. So you know, time will tell.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we have a very exciting fight coming up in a couple of weeks\u2019 time, and I think 2021, regardless of what\u2019s next for Conor, it\u2019s going to be an exciting year,\u201d Kavanagh added. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the exact plan is, but I don\u2019t really get why this one isn\u2019t for the title, if I\u2019m being 100 percent honest. Maybe it\u2019s Dana; this is a little carrot towards Khabib. \u2018Do you really want this guy to\u2019 \u2013 I don\u2019t know. I know those types of games that go on. I don\u2019t involve myself in it. But this, to me, feels like it\u2019s for the belt, but I guess, at the very least, the winner of this would be offered a title fight, but who would that be against?<\/p>\n

What do you think of these comments from John Kavanagh? Is Dustin Poirier a tougher test for Conor McGregor than Justin Gaethje or Michael Chandler?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coach John Kavanagh believes Dustin Poirier is a tougher opponent for Conor McGregor than Justin Gaethje or Michael Chandler. Kavanagh has long served as McGregor’s head coach. During a recent interview with TheMacLife, he rated McGregor’s next opponent, Poirier, against two other top lightweights in Gaethje and Chandler. \u201cI think in terms of opponent difficulty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":338697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10089,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nGaethje, Chandler "slightly easier" fight for Conor McGregor than Poirier, says coach | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Coach John Kavanagh believes Dustin Poirier is a tougher opponent for his star pupil Conor McGregor than Justin Gaethje or Michael Chandler.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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