Conor McGregor's coaches are confident that their man is in the shape of his life ahead of his clash with Dustin Poirier on January 23.
And John Kavanagh reckons the defeat Poirier suffered to McGregor in 2014 will weigh on the American's mind going into the fight next month.
The Dublin fighter KO'd Poirier inside the first round on that occasion and Kavanagh believes his man still holds all the aces, six years on from that emphatic loss.
"I think you can spend a lifetime going to sports psychologists and talking to this person and that person, that’s not going to have been erased from his mind,” Kavanagh told TheMacLife.
“He knows that he is facing somebody who can shut off his lights very, very rapidly and now is a lot more powerful and a lot more experienced than he was even then, so it’s a tough, uphill battle for Dustin."
McGregor has beefed up for the 155lbs fight next month and has shown off his ripped physique on social media in recent weeks.
And while Kavanagh acknowledged that a lot has changed since the 145lbs contest in 2014, the Straight Blast Gym guru is still in a bullish mood ahead of the fight.
"There’s nothing to be said when you’ve really badly hurt someone like that so fast,” Kavanagh added.
“It’s not like it was a decision win or some sort of argument to be made or it was a bit back and forth and Conor got a shot off, it was a bad night for Dustin.
“It was very one-sided and when you look at some of the shots he’s absorbed — now he’s a bigger man now, and there’s maybe some argument he can absorb more shots now but he’s fighting a bigger man as well.
"If you remember back to the fight, the opening hook kick just whistled by his head.. a couple of inches lower that might even have outdone the [Jose] Aldo fight.
“Look they’ve both matured physically, age-wise they’re in the thirties now with families, Dustin’s had a couple more contests than Conor has in the Octagon, but Conor’s never stopped training and has obviously had a boxing match and done other stuff.
"It’s interesting to see how the styles meet up this time."
