Dustin Poirier’s team expecting Conor McGregor to adopt ‘completely different’ approach for crucial UFC 264 trilogy
CONOR MCGREGOR will adopt a 'completely different' approach for his high-stakes trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier.
The Irishman will renew his rivalry with the former interim lightweight champion tomorrow morning in the main event of UFC 264 in Las Vegas.
McGregor, 32, was knocked out in the second round of the pair's January rematch in Abu Dhabi after having his lead leg brutalised by crippling calf kicks.
But Poirier's head coach Mike Brown expects The Notorious to abandon the boxing-heavy approach that saw him stopped for the first time in his 13-year-long career.
Brown told SunSport: "They're both two different guys now. I expect a completely different Conor.
"One thing I expect is a motivated Conor. I'm sure that last fight didn't taste very good.
"And I'm sure, especially with the low leg kick, the calf kick, that pain doesn't go away in a couple of hours. It doesn't go away the next day.
"You carry that for a week, two weeks, sometimes more. That didn't taste very well and I'm sure he's motivated by all these things."
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McGregor, the UFC's first simultaneous two-weight world champion, has worked diligently on his calf kick defence over the last six months.
But Brown insists the debilitating strikes will remain a part of Poirier's arsenal.
He said: "It'd be silly not to think that that's not an option. But obviously, it'd be silly to think that Conor hasn't adapted.
"So that's always a possibility. But we're expecting that Conor is going to have made so adjustments and ready for the calf kick."
Brown reckons Poirier's destruction of McGregor, the American's fifth victory over a former world champion, solidified his status as the best lightweight on the planet.
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The former UFC featherweight said: "It's not about just that performance or the things that Dustin did in that fight.
"I think just that at this time, this stage in his career, he's the best fighter in that division and in the world and he has a superior skill set."
Poirier, 32, has vowed a repeat of his Abu Dhabi masterclass, a prediction Brown reckons The Diamond will make good on.
He said: "I think Dustin stops him, honestly. I don't know when and where, but I think he ends up getting the finish at some point in those 25 minutes."
BT Sport Box Office will show UFC 264: McGregor v Poirier 3 exclusively live on Saturday 10th July. UFC 264 can be watched on BT TV, Virgin Media TV, Sky, online via the web or the BT Sport Box Office App and is available to buy at