A BRIDGE TWO FAR?
CONOR MCGREGOR is still box office for the UFC but is he still the same fighter after a two year hiatus?
The Dubliner become the first man to hold two UFC titles simultaneously in November 2016 but hasn’t fought in an Octagon since and faces a huge challenge in the shape of Russian grappling specialist Khabib Nurmagomedov in Las Vegas this weekend.
While his travelling support base seems to have dwindled, ever-hyperbolic UFC president Dana White is confident Mcgregor’s global drawing power could guide them to three million pay-per-view buys — nearly double the current record that was set when the Irishman got revenge over Nate Diaz at UFC 202.
Newly crowned lightweight champion Nurmagomedov (below) is considered to be the worst possible match-up for Mcgregor in the division and only one fighter ever has returned to MMA after a hiatus of 23 months or more and dethroned a UFC champion Georges St-pierre, widely thought to be the greatest MMA proponent of all time.
However, Mcgregor’s self-belief is intact despite his time on the sidelines and money-spinning boxing defeat to
Floyd Mayweather.
“I’m coming for that man’s head from the f ***** g bell.
Trust me on that. Saturday night, UFC
229. Let’s take this smelly Dagestani rat,” Mcgregor roared in
Las Vegas at the open workouts.
Unsurprisingly, Nurmagomedov doesn’t believe Mcgregor is the same fighter.
In fact, he believes the Dubliner has only shown up to sell his new Irish whiskey.
“At the first press conference, he looked like a drunk guy,” he remarked.
“It’s very interesting how he wants to fight when you use whiskey. How do you want to fight 25 minutes? This is not boxing.”
However, the man who should know best is Mcgregor’s coach John Kavanagh, and he insists the Crumlin sensation is back his best.
“Conor, specifically for this training camp, had a lot of intense training sessions and sparring sessions and it’s done in the environment he’s going to compete in,” said Kavanagh. “We’ve tried to make the training environment as close as we can to the fighting environment so there isn’t that disconnect.”