CONOR MCGREGOR MAY be weeks away from his third UFC fight but the ambitious Irish featherweight has his sights set on the belt.
The 25-year-old faces Diego Brandao in the main event at Dublin’s O2 Arena on 19 July as his original opponent Cole Miller pulled out late last night do to a thumb injury.
McGregor’s supremely confident manner has helped with the meteoric rise since his debut in the Octagon in April 2013 but he can’t understand why other fighters aren’t equally as outspoken.
“If you’re not willing to go all the way then you won’t go anywhere,” McGregor said, speaking during yesterday’s UFC conference call before news broke about Miller. “You can’t fear success and I think a lot of people do. They fear the really high heights.
“Everything I have asked for from the UFC, I have got. So I don’t get why everyone else isn’t asking for all this. I asked to be put on the main event. I said: ‘Give me that main event, I’m going to sell out that main event’.
“I’m asking for the title shot. I don’t understand why these people sit and be quiet. It’s fear manifested in another way. I’m not like that. I’m going for it.”
McGregor, ranked 13th in a stacked featherweight division, is intent on surging up that ladder as opposed to making a steady climb as he goes in search of Jose Aldo’s belt.
It may seem like a bit of a leap for some, but he has grand plans to win the title before defending it in Dublin next year all laid out.
In my my head, I see me winning the belt in the MGM in Vegas,” he adds. “Then I see Croke Park or the Aviva or one of the big football stadiums in Ireland next summer.
“That’s what I see in my head and usually what I’ve been seeing in my head lately seems to be happening so I’m going to go with that.
“I believe I’ll probably win the belt in Vegas and defend it in a football stadium in Dublin.
“We could sell out an arena. We could sell out Croke Park. We could do that out right now for this.
“We could do that in Dublin but following usual UFC protocol, they usually have the title fights in the current champions hometown or Vegas so who knows. That would be phenomenal.”
