Conor McGregor’s coach discusses Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre’s ‘flaws’

When Conor McGregor returns to the cage — if Conor McGregor returns to the cage — two of his best options in terms of opponents are current UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, and former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

Nurmagomedov and St-Pierre are two of the most dominant fighters in MMA history. St-Pierre has lost just twice in 28 fights, and avenged both of those losses in decisive fashion. Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, has never lost a fight, and currently sits at a flawless 26-0 overall.

Despite the incredible dominance of both men, McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy feels there are chinks in both of their armor. He feels that, with the proper game plan, McGregor could expose those flaws and emerge the victor against both stars.

“Every fight is exciting, it’s like, ‘How do we approach this guy? What’s he going to come up with? What threats does he have and where are his flaws?’” Roddy explained toMMA Fighting’s Mike Sheridan this week (transcribed by Dan Hiergesell for MMAMania).

“We’ll find the threats and look at how to nullify them,” he added. “Then we look at the flaws and see how we capitalize on them. It’s not just me, it’s a team effort: it’s John [Kavanagh], it’s Conor — Conor has a huge input on what shots he uses. He’s such a smart fighter. People think he just goes in and lands the left hand, but it’s everything before — he’s leading people into that position and he’s very good at doing that.”

“John is very good at what he does, I’m very good at what I do. If we’re fighting wrestlers Sergey [Pikulskiy] comes in and he’s a phenomenal wrestling coach. And Dillon [Danis] will be there. It’s a phenomenal team and we have all angles covered.”

Do you think that, with the help of his team, Conor McGregor could take out Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/1/2018.