John Kavanagh thinks Dustin Poirier will not be able to forget his previous loss to Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor is set to return to the Octagon on January 23 at UFC 257 in a rematch against Dustin Poirier. The "Notorious" locked horns with Poirier in 2014 and knocked him out in the first round.

John Kavanagh, who is Conor McGregor's head trainer, thinks that the "Diamond" will never be able to erase that loss from his memory.

Speaking to The Mac Life, Kavanagh asserted that no matter what Poirier does, even if it means seeking help from sports psychologists, that devastating loss to McGregor will always stay in his mind.

"I think you could spend a lifetime going to sports psychologists and talking to this person, that person - that’s (loss to McGregor) not going to have been erased from his mind. He knows he’s facing somebody who can shut off his lights very, very rapidly."

While acknowledging the significant improvement in Poirier's skill-set in the past six years, Kavanagh noted that the Diamond has the ability to take a lot of punishment. However, he will be fighting a "different animal" in Conor McGregor.

"I think he (Dustin Poirier) has definitely gotten better... His volume and his conditioning is looking on point, and you can see in his fights he has an ability to take a lot of punishment, and still come forward; pick any of his last few fights to see that quality, however, he is fighting a different animal than any of those guys (Poirier's previous opponents), somebody with true one-punch knockout power that he has already felt."

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The winner of the Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier fight is likely to receive a title shot

Both Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier are coming off a spectacular victory against their respective opponents. McGregor finished Donald Cerrone in 40 seconds at UFC 246 in January 2020, while Poirier engaged in a five-round back-and-forth war against Dan Hooker in June.

Given that these two lightweight stalwarts have consistently maintained their position in the top five of the division rankings, it is likely that the winner of this much-awaited rematch will certainly stake a claim on the belt in his next fight.

However, with Khabib Nurmagomedov's future in the UFC looking uncertain, it will be interesting to see who will be pitted against either McGregor or Poirier in a title fight.