Conor McGregor 's coach thinks his fighter outlanded Dustin Poirier in their trilogy bout, but the official stats of the fight prove otherwise.
McGregor faced Poirier for the third time at UFC 264 last July, with the fight being stopped at the end of the first round after the Irishman broke his tibia.
The win marked Poirier's second stoppage over McGregor that year, having knocked him out in their rematch six months before.
John Kavanagh, the longtime coach of McGregor at SBG Charlestown, thinks the trilogy fight was going McGregor's way before his unfortunate leg break.
But the official stats show that Poirier landed more significant strikes in the five minutes of the bout, scoring 36 compared to McGregor's 27.
"The training camp went really well, I thought we made great adjustments...just look at how the first round was going in terms of shots landed," Kavanagh told Main Event.
"Conor was like I believe almost two to one in the shots landed standing. [He] went for guillotine, ended up on his back and defended himself well on the ground.
"I thought if we went into the second round it would continue, how it was looking on the stand-up portion of the fight which was Conor landing quite well.
"When Conor tends to land, people tend to fall so I was fairly confident how it would play out in the second round or maybe the third round."
McGregor's loss to Poirier in their rematch marked the first time he has been knocked out in 28 professional fights.
The former two-weight champion was furious after his second loss to Poirier, demanding the decision be read as a "doctor's stoppage".
He has been linked with fights against Nate Diaz, Tony Ferguson and Michael Chandler upon his octagon return.
And Kavanagh admitted a trilogy fight against Diaz would likely be what most fans want next for McGregor.
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"It doesn't really matter, you say any name and it's exciting. Probably the Diaz trilogy would be a fan favourite, but let's just get him back competing," Kavanagh continued.
"He's achieved all those targets he set himself and exceeded them. So now at this stage I believe it's more about exciting fights.
"Whether it's [Alex] Volkanovski, [Max] Holloway, Ferguson or Diaz. For me the important thing is just to get back training, get back improving ourselves and competing.
Despite listing featherweight champion Volkanovski as a potential opponent, Kavanagh ruled out the chance of McGregor cutting down to 145-pounds again.
'Notorious' has not competed at featherweight since knocking out longtime champion Jose Aldo in 2015 to win the undisputed title.
