Coach: McGregor ‘Must Be Dominant’ vs. Diaz in ‘Game-Changer’ Bout at UFC 202

Conor McGregor coach John Kavanagh believes his star pupil has learned from his loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 and will put those lessons to good use in their rematch on Aug. 20. According to the SBG Ireland boss, the preparation for UFC 202 has followed a different formula than previous camps. “The word we’ve been focusing on for this camp is ‘routine’. We basically did the same thing every day since we arrived in Vegas: Leave the house to go to the gym for a skill session at 1 p.m., before working on cardio in the evenings,” Kavanagh wrote in a blog on the42.ie. “We’ve been following that pattern now for what feels like a long time — about 19 weeks in total come fight night. Although it seems like it has been a long process, we’re definitely seeing the fruits of our labor. There are certain fitness tests that we have numbers on, and the improvements from when Conor began to where he is now have been dramatic. “There’s no comparing this training camp to any we have done previously. I can’t stress enough how different this has been. As many of you will probably already know, routine hasn’t been something you would have associated with Conor’s preparations in the past.” McGregor lost to Diaz via rear-naked choke submission 4:12 into the second round in a welterweight bout on March 5. Rather than defend the featherweight title he won against Jose Aldo in December, “The Notorious” one lobbied hard for a rematch at the same weight against the Stockton, Calif., native and ultimately received his wish. One key difference this time around, Kavanagh says, is that McGregor has been …

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