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Team Conor McGregor finally won in the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. The elimination fights in the series ended with a scoreline of 7-1 in favor of Team Michael Chandler. Team McGregor managed to avoid the clean sweep with a win in the final match of the elimination fights. What led to this turnaround? Desperation to carve out a win somehow, extra motivation from coach McGregor, or a combination of both? A video released a week before the final fight might hold some answers.

It seems ‘The Notorious’, who has been out of the octagon for over two years, healing from a broken bone in his leg, is returning to his old form. In the video, McGregor drops one of his own fighters, Landon Quinones, in a sparring match. He posted this video of downing Quinones as his story with a six-word caption, letting the MMA world know his thoughts.

Conor McGregor’s reaction to downing his fighter

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In the training video, McGregor hits him with a body kick to the liver, which causes him to groan and fall to his knees. Conor McGregor can be heard telling him to “fight through it,” to which he jumps to his feet and continues fighting. Liver shots are a very effective hit in combat sports, incapacitating the recipient instantly. “Knock, knock to open the door 📝” This was McGregor’s caption, suggesting he set that kick up with punches to Quinones’s face, leading him to lift his elbows and open the door for McGregor’s kick.

 

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At the time of the release of the video, Team Conor was yet to win a fight against Team Chandler. And Michael Chandler had accused McGregor of not being there for his fighters. This accusation led to a physical altercation between the two. Fans would have wanted answers to only two questions at that time –

Can ‘The Notorious’ redeem himself? Can he save his team from the ignominy of becoming the first team in the history of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ to be winless? On both counts, we have an answer now.

The fight is not over until it’s over – Did the Conor McGregor magic finally work?

 The staggering number of losses that Team McGregor faced is unprecedented. This prompted ‘Mystic Mac’ to even ask Dana White what would happen if none of his fighters could win a quarterfinal, and the UFC boss admitted he was clueless about how the series will proceed to the semi-finals since this was the first time this had happened in the history of TUF.

via Imago

However, in the last fight between veteran Hunter Azure from Team Chandler and Rico DiSciullo of Team McGregor, DiSciullo emerged victorious with a stunning ‘Hulk smash’ to finish off his opponent.

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Read More – Amid Uncertainty Around a “Clean Sweep”, Conor McGregor Asked to “Fire Up the Jet” and Leave, After His Teammate Loses Fight in 60 Seconds at TUF 31

Was it finally the influence of the ‘Mystic Mac’ rubbing off onto his fighters, or was it just the individual brilliance of the fighter shining through? As fans, what do you think really happened?

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 Is McGregor’s coaching the main reason behind his team’s performance? Or do you think there is another reason for it? Tell us in the comments section below.

Watch this story: Conor McGregor’s Return Timeline Revealed By Michael Chandler