Conor will be punch perfect
CONOR McGREGOR will return to UFC an even better knockout artist following his venture into boxing.
Irishman McGregor makes his long-awaited return to the octagon early on Sunday morning in the main event of UFC 229 in Las Vegas.
The UFC’s first simultaneous two-weight world champion will be welcomed back to the cage by the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov, who replaced him as lightweight king in April.
McGregor’s grudge match with the Russian will be his first mixed martial arts fight since before his multi-million pound boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jnr in August 2017, which he lost via a 10th-round TKO.
But McGregor’s coach Owen Roddy believes the 29-year-old’s preparations for ‘The Money Fight’ have made him an even deadlier puncher.
Leaps
Roddy said: “It definitely helps when you get to focus solely on one aspect of combat for a couple of months.
“It’s great because you’re definitely going to take big leaps in that department.
“Obviously, when you first come back and you’re using everything else you’ve picked up, you’ve got to tie them into the other aspects – the kicks, the knees, the elbows and the wrestling and the jiu-jitsu.
“Your timing on that may be a little bit off. But ®Êby CHISANGA MALATA it doesn’t take long. It takes weeks of consistent training for that all to come back, but then you’ve gained three months of focus on one aspect.
“So I think it’s going to be great for him.”
McGregor, 21-3, hasn’t fought in MMA since winning the 155lb title nearly two years ago in the main event of UFC 205.
Roddy reckons ‘The Notorious’ has greatly benefitted from his time on the sidelines, adding: “When you’re on top and you’re smashing people and you’re putting them away, it’s hard to keep that fire going.
“But there’s nothing like a loss to build that fire again.
“And I think that loss against Floyd, that’s burning on his chest and he wants to take it out on his next opponent. And he will.”