Chael Sonnen thinks Conor McGregor was a lot slower than he remembers.
In the main event of UFC 257, McGregor made his return to the Octagon against Dustin Poirier. In the lead-up to the scrap, the Irishman said he would KO Poirier inside 60 seconds. However, that was far from the case as it was “The Diamond” who took two solid shots and used leg kicks to hurt the Irishman and went up top to KO him.
After the fight, Sonnen said he thought McGregor was slow and believes his timing was way off.
“Conor looked a little bit slower than I remember Conor,” Sonnen said on ESPN’s UFC 257 post-fight show. “We do know as human beings, you don’t get better at something by not doing it. I give a lot of weight to what Conor said that the layoff hurt him.
“I saw his timing off, but I also saw Dustin blocking things, firing back, chewing up that lead leg,” Sonnen added. “Not to mention, not just the takedown but the threat of the takedown pays dividends.”
Conor McGregor did say the inactivity hurt him after his loss to Dustin Poirier. However, his coach said he was fully motivated and had a good training camp for the bout. It will be interesting to see how the Irishman looks when he competes next time.
