Conor McGregor’s coach has opened up about how they got his training wrong in the build-up to his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257.

McGregor who switched from the Octagon to the ring for his bout with Floyd Mayweather in 2017, was determined to take on more boxing greats in future, including Manny Pacquaio.

But all of that talk appears to have disappeared following the Dubliner’s shock defeat to Poirier in January, a man he’d previously beaten back in 2014.

Now, after McGregor's long-time rival, Khabib Nurmagomedov retired last year - vacating the lightweight title - the possibility for a trilogy fight between McGregor and Poirier to determine who rules the division has opened up.

Yet McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, is determined to ensure that the Irishman’s mindset is firmly focused on the cage, without distractions from boxing.

The coach spoke about the impacts that the Pacquaio rumours had on McGregor in his preparations for the Poirier fight.

“I describe it as a game of spinning plates,” Kavanagh said to BT Sport.

“You’re spinning the boxing plate and you realise the wrestling plate is about to stop, so you have to go spin that one, and then you have to go spin the jiu-jitsu one, you have to spin the kickboxing one.

“We got a bit obsessed with the boxing one. There was talk of a big boxing fight after that.

“Our bad, our mistake, our fault – no one to blame. We just have to make sure we have to keep spinning that kickboxing plate and all the other aspects of MMA and get ready for the rematch.”

Despite there being no confirmation of a return to the cage, Kavanagh believes The Notorious still has plenty to do if he wants to return back to the top.

“We have to fix that technical detail,” he added.

“It’s not like we have to fix everything. It’s just a small enough area, get that back into the whole game. The knock on him was the boxing mentality going into an MMA mentality.

“Conor was always famous for his movement, his ability to change stances, his bounce as he would say, and we need to bring that all back. It’s there; it’s under the hood.

“It’s not like the skills need to be learned or even relearned. They just have to be reignited and we have to start that process.”