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As Conor McGregor returns to MMA since his retirement in 2020, fans have asked about his fitness level. A lot of that will come down to the former UFC champion's diet. With his UFC 257 bout with Dustin Poirier edging closer, details have emerged about his food routine.
According to his nutritionist of two years, Tristin Kennedy, food choices play a significant role in the Irishman's performance, which he works on seven days a week.
"It entails daily nutrition plans, supplementation guides, cooking, being at all his training sessions, observing, taking data: the more data you take, the better,'' Kennedy told ESPN.
The 170lb fighter consumes vitamins A, B, proteins, fats and carbs, which Kennedy carefully lays out in grams for him.
McGregor's protein intakes consist of fish, chicken, salmon, beef and eggs while a fair amount of carbohydrates and microelements like herbs, basil and oregano make up his diet.
Kennedy first started working with McGregor in 2018 through nutrition expert George Lockhart but later became the fighter’s full-time dietician.
In a previous interview, McGregor disclosed how he tries to maintain a consistent diet at all times.
‘’My diet is usually pretty consistent whether I’m training for a specific fight or not. I don’t like to mess too much with it. I try to eat healthy all the time. I don’t eat takeaways. I drink mostly water or coconut water.’’
McGregor aiming to return to lightweight limit of 155-lb
Although Kennedy says McGregor is in great shape, he also revealed plans to help the fighter lose some calories and cut down to the division limit of 155 pounds. McGregor's last fight in that category was in October 2018 when Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated him.
''It's about the gradual step-down in calories and food. Then it's about distributing the macros and having supplementation on point. And correlating all that nutrition to his training program.''
It won’t be the first time the Irish fighter has attempted a weight cut. After his loss to Nate Diaz in 2016, he was critical of his decisions in the build up to the fight. And the athlete found himself overtraining with only weeks to go until the bout.
‘’I mismanaged my weight. I was working with my nutritionist for the lightweight title fight to make 155 pounds. I was on track. Nine days out from the fight, I’m in phenomenal condition, and then the weight got changed (to 170) and all of a sudden I’m 10 pounds below and I’m like, I don’t need this diet because I need to eat up to the weight. So I threw that out. I disengaged from that. I started eating two steaks a day, two breakfasts. I’d have a coffee and some cookies with that, please, also. I’d be in the gym six to eight hours on fight week. I’ve got bags of energy. I can do this all day. But it came back and bit me in the ass.’’
