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‘No loss was had here’ - McGregor remains defiant over latest defeat

Conor McGregor poses ahead of his UFC 264 bout against Dustin Poirier.
Conor McGregor poses ahead of his UFC 264 bout against Dustin Poirier. | Photo By Thomas King/Sportsfile via Getty Images

As far as the former double-champ is concerned he’s still 1-1 with Dustin Poirier.

There’s a fine balancing act in maintaining the right mentality to be an elite fighter in the UFC. On the one hand, (as one notable MMA coach likes to put it) there’s the ideology of “win or learn”—a mind-frame that would seem to emphasize taking losses for what they are and maximizing their value. Not necessarily as points for regret or self deprecation, but opportunities to realize mistakes and improve the process of being a top-tier combat sports athlete.

The phrase “win or learn” may omit the actual word “lose,” but the unwritten implication of it seems to be that anything less than absolute victory is something of a loss. Even if that’s only to redefine losing as a chance for growth.

On the other hand, however, there’s the often very observable reality that one of the most valuable things a fighter can do for themselves is to find the reasonable lie; camp was bad, they got sick, they have a long-standing injury they’ve been working around, they just felt ‘off’ that night, the weight cut was terrible... After all, few things are more important in the Octagon than maintaining confidence. The fighter that starts believing they just weren’t good enough to win might not be able to shake that feeling.

For Conor McGregor, as he recovers from the broken leg he suffered against Dustin Poirier back at UFC 264, it seems clear which path he’s chosen. The ‘Notorious’ got into the thick of it with fans on Twitter, where he gave a rousing defense of his performance against Poirier in their July fight.

No word yet on just when McGregor plans on returning to the cage, although early reports suggested fans would see him again sometime in 2022. Whenever he does get back into action, however, it doesn’t sound like he’ll have any hesitations about throwing himself back into danger. And coming off an injury as like the one he suffered, that may just be the best thing for him.

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