Conor McGregor is confident that he'll "come back better than ever" after undergoing surgery for a broken leg suffered during his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on Saturday in Las Vegas. But are McGregor's days as an elite title contender officially over? Is his career now on the downslide?
One recently retired lightweight champion sure believes so, according to Yahoo Sports MMA reporter Kevin Iole.
"It's interesting, I just left an interview with Khabib Nurmagomedov and I asked him that question. And he said you have one prime and there's no second prime. So, he's of the opinion, no," Iole told The Zach Gelb Show on Monday. "My sense is, everybody that fights Conor talks about how he's quick and he has that power. And so, if you have that, that tells me you're still close to your prime, right?
"The difference between the absolute best in the world and guys like where he is now is just that desire and that willingness to pay any price in training to get to the top. I don't know that he's willing to pay that price anymore. Maybe it's because of his business interests, maybe it's because of his family -- he's got children now -- whatever it is.
"I think he trains hard. I don't mean to say that he doesn't train hard. But like these guys who are at the absolute top, they're maniacs. Conor's a maniac in a lot of other ways, but he's not a maniac in that way, in terms of the training. And I think that's the difference."
During the UFC 264 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said that a fourth fight between McGregor and Poirier will be considered once McGregor -- who's facing a lengthy recovery period -- is "healed up."
"It sucks, it's brutal and it's not the way you want to see fights end," White told reporters. "Dustin Poirier will fight for the title and when Conor is healed and ready to go, we'll do the rematch."
With the first-round TKO loss, McGregor dropped to 22-6 in his UFC career. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Poirier -- who defeated McGregor for the second consecutive time -- became the third-quickest fighter to 20 UFC wins. He also has the most KO/TKO wins (8) in lightweight history.
The entire UFC conversation between Iole and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.