Knock-out blow Conor McGregor knocked out of the top 15 UFC fighters in the world

Conor McGregor during his UFC 257 Lightweight bout against Dustin Poirier at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images via Sportsfile

Neil Fetherstonhaugh

March 10 2021 03:48 PM

It's a new blow for Conor McGregor as the Dubliner has been knocked out of the top 15 UFC fighters in the world.

Even though he is still one of the biggest names in the sport, defeats in two of his last three fights has seen him removed from the top tier of pound for pound rankings.

McGregor's last defeat, at the hands of Dustin Poirier in January, means he has been replaced at No 15 by Aljamain Sterling, who was crowned the bantamweight champion over the weekend after Petr Yan was disqualified in their UFC 259 bout.

Sterling is far behind Khabib Nurmagomedovwho remains the No.1 ranked fighter despite announcing his retirement last year.

However, McGregor is still determined to take on a trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier after suffering a shock defeat to the American in January.

And his coach John Kavanagh is confident that the former two-weight champion will avenge that loss this summer.

He told BT Sport: “He is in great spirits, well he actually sold the spirits so he is in really good financial spirits. He is just looking forward, I’m hoping we can get that rematch done in the summer of McGregor-Poirier 3.

“I’m not exactly sure, I don’t involve myself in the management side of things. We want to get that one back, got to figure out these fricking calf kicks, how to use them and defend them. We’re pretty confident we have that sorted out now. He looked excellent everywhere else. Give us a rematch, and we have the rematch, I feel.”

Kavanagh added: “We have to fix that technical detail, which it’s not like having to fix everything, it’s fixing a small enough area. Get that back into the whole game, not going in with a sort of with a boxing mentality, going in with an MMA mentality.

“Conor was always famous for his movement, his ability to change stances, his bounce as he would say. We got to bring that back. It’s there, it’s under the hood, it’s not skills that have to be learned or relearned, they just have to be re-ignited.

“We have already started that process. So, wouldn’t it be great to do it again in the summer, maybe in Vegas in front of 20,000 screaming people if we can get the world back open again.”