CONOR MCGREGOR looked for a way out of his rematch with Dustin Poirier when the going got tough, former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen believes.

The Notorious suffered a second-round KO defeat to his old featherweight rival in January at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi.

McGregor, 32, got the better of the American in the first round, but Sonnen believes he quit well before the end of the stanza.

He said on his YouTube Channel: "There's a certain edge that certain fighters have.

"There's a certain anger and hostility that they bring to the ring.

"It's the very reason that they coined the phrase 'a rich man can't fight', because he's generally not angry, he's generally having a pretty good day, he doesn't have that edge.

"It's very relevant whether Conor finds it or not, because the Conor vs Poirier fight wasn't what you guys saw and the fans wouldn't understand this but every fighter did.

"That fight was over three minutes in, Conor was looking for the door, he just couldn't find it, but he was looking to get out of that fight.

"The reason every fighter can recognise it is that we have all done it, and we're all ashamed of it, but there's a look that a fighter has."

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Sonnen reckons McGregor started to 'panic' after Poirier took his biggest shots and showed no signs of being hurt.

The three-time UFC title challenger added: "Conor found himself in a fight that was harder than Conor thought it was going to be against a guy whose a** he had already whipped!

"Those are the things that started to play the mental game, and Conor thought, 'Land the big punch, let's make it look good and let's get out of here,' he went into panic mode.

"If you admit it ahead of time that panic mode and that fear, that adversity that you deal with loses its power, and I will be very curious as to what approach, from a media standpoint, Conor takes going into Poirier 3."

Debilitating calf kicks from Poirier drastically hindered the movement and power of McGregor, who was quick to lament the devastating effects of the strikes.

McGregor's post-fight comments baffled Sonnen, who said: "There was a day when Conor McGregor, whether it was true or not, would never admit that a calf kick hurt, I will never say those words to you.

"You kicked me in a soft muscle in the back of my leg and therefore I lost an a– whooping contest?

"You'd never get me to cop to it and there was a time when you'd have never got Conor to cop to it.

"There's this narrative around the fight about how good these calf kicks were, look, it's a weapon used by many, it isn't some great weapon."

McGregor will renew his rivalry with Poirier a fortnight on Sunday in the main event of UFC 264 in Las Vegas.

And the pride of Dublin is hellbent on getting back in the win column in spectacular fashion.

He told Fox Sports: "All the marbles are on the line.

"I'm here training very, very hard. I'm about to go for my second session of the day. I'm in great condition already.

"I beat him in the original bout [in 2014]. I lost in the rematch.

"And then we've got trilogy, I've got a few little adjustments to make.

"I feel very, very confident. I'm very focused and driven.

"And I'll go in there and put on one hell of a performance and get it back on July 10th."

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