The day of reckoning inches ever closer…
UFC 205 is a little over a week away and it won’t be long until we start seeing the real build up start when the fighters arrive in New York over the coming days.
We can expect fireworks at press conferences and weigh ins when Conor McGregor and lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez come face to face, but there were plenty of strong words last night during the UFC 205 media call.
Things got heated a number of times as they traded barbs over the phone as the pair hyped, what will surely be one of the biggest fights in UFC history (this seems to happen a lot with McGregor), considering it’s the first event in New York since the lifting of the ban on MMA and the chance that The Notorious could create history with a win.
“He’s thinking it’s a game,” McGregor said during the media call. “It’s like you look into these people’s eyes and they don’t see it as a reality just yet. They’re trying to look away and make it something else. ‘This isn’t happening.’ Then we’re in the Octagon, and then we’re about to fight, and I see what I see in their eyes.
“I see them break, bit by bit. And then we’re in the Octagon and I break them myself. So that’s it. I’m looking forward to going in. He’s claiming it’s an easier contest. I look forward to seeing the eyes, when the eyes roll, and the electric shock darts through his whole body and goes to his knees. And then he comes up in survival mode, and that panic sets through his whole body, his whole face. That’s something I’m looking forward to, and I will go out there and I will punish him for that, for those words that he’s saying. I’m going to retire him on this night.”
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McGregor then proceeded to outline his plans for Alvarez when they face off in MSG on November 12.
“I’m going to hurt you badly. I’m going to rip you up badly, I swear to God. Trust me, you’re going regret that,” McGregor said.
“I feel [people are] going to see something they haven’t seen before. I’m going to toy with this man. I’m going to really, truly rearrange his facial structure. His wife and kids will never recognise him again. His friends and the people that he knows will know that he’s not the same man after this contest. So he’s going to be in a shock when he sees that. That’s it.”
While McGregor always talks a big game, a criticism that has been levelled at him since his two clashes with Nate Diaz is whether or not he has the required cardio for a five round fight.
In recent days UFC legend Bas Rutten expressed his belief that had Nate Diaz pushed hard in the third round of their last fight while McGregor seemed to tire, he would have finished the fight. But as it was, Diaz didn’t push on, and The Notorious got his second wind and won the fight.
But McGregor no longer sees his cardio as an issue, despite an interesting observation from UFC bantamweight champion Dominik Cruz who said McGregor’s explosive style is difficult to maintain over a five round fight.
“I’m swinging in the fifth round. I’m pushing now in the fifth round,” McGregor said. “I’ve gone to that next level on this. I’ve been very focused on my cardiovascular endurance and my weight management and my nutrition. Now my body mass has come down, I’m leaner at 155, and my VO2 max has gone through the roof. My resting heart rate is extremely low, so I’m ready. I hope he is, because he’s talking like he can outlast me over 25 minutes. But it’s a long 25 minutes in there against a guy who can strike you from any angle, from any position. I’ve ended fights from everywhere. Everywhere, I’ve finished fights. So good luck to him.”
The fight is just days away and afterwards who knows, maybe even a fight with this man?
