‘No loss was had here’ – Conor McGregor remains defiant over UFC 264 Poirier defeat

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…

By: Zane Simon | 2 years ago
‘No loss was had here’ – Conor McGregor remains defiant over UFC 264 Poirier defeat
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

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.

Share this story

About the author
Zane Simon
Zane Simon

Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer, and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. He has worked with the website since 2013, taking on a wide variety of roles. A lifelong combat sports fan, Zane has trained off & on in both boxing and Muay Thai. He currently hosts the long-running MMA Vivisection podcast, which he took over from Nate Wilcox & Dallas Winston in 2015, as well as the 6th Round podcast, started in 2014. Zane is also responsible for developing and maintaining the ‘List of current UFC fighters’ on Bloody Elbow, a resource he originally developed for Wikipedia in 2010.

More from the author

Recent Stories