Conor McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh took issue with his fighter being interviewed while in a vulnerable and frustrated mental state at UFC 264.
Conor McGregor was anything but “humble” in defeat after losing to Dustin Poirier in the UFC 264 main event. “Infuriated,” “enraged,” and “defiant” are just a few words that would much better capture the Irishman’s reaction to the loss in the fight’s immediate aftermath. This is not conjecture, as the entire world bore witness to McGregor unleashing on Poirier and his wife during his Octagon interview with Joe Rogan.
McGregor has been widely criticized for his remarks, particularly for calling Dustin Poirier’s wife a “hoe.” According to Coach Kavanagh, however, no such criticism should exist. That’s because the Octagon interview by Rogan should have never happened in the first place given McGregor’s state at the time (h/t MMA Junkie).
“His foot is literally hanging down,” Kavanagh said. “It’s a clean fracture on the fibula and tibia. It went straight through. It’s hanging down. You can only imagine the rush of hormones and what’s going to be going through your body at that moment. The pain – it was on fire. Then someone bends down and sticks a microphone in your face: ‘How are you feeling right now?’ It’s like, guys – come on.”
McGregor has also been accused of not taking his losses well as of late in general, with UFC legend Dominick Cruz being among those to dispense this criticism. Kavanagh rejects this notion and believes McGregor was just caught at a bad time after suffering a nasty leg injury at UFC 264.
“When has he never not been gracious at the end?” Kavanagh asked. “Let’s get backstage, let’s get a proper assessment by a doctor, and let’s get an X-ray. Let’s say I was pretty miffed at that idea of shoving a microphone in someone’s face at that stage. Let’s gather ourselves.”
McGregor has since gotten much more than an X-ray. He has undergone successful surgery after breaking his tibia and has vowed to rebuild himself after suffering what he deemed to be an “illegitimate” win for Dustin Poirier.
Is John Kavanagh right to be upset about Conor McGregor being interviewed by Joe Rogan after McGregor suffered a major injury?
