CONOR MCGREGOR IS determined to make the most of his trip this week.
On Tuesday night he entertained fight fans with a memorable appearance on BT Sport’s Beyond The Octagon.
From London, he flew to Rio to take in the Aldo Mendes fight from cage-side this evening.
Last night, after the Denis Siver fight was announced for January, he took part in a live Q and A. And he wasn’t shy in telling the hometown fans what he planned to do with Jose Aldo should he get past Mini Mendes and his opinion of his next opponent in Boston.
“Dennis is an easy contest,” the 26-year-old Dubliner said. “I like to think of Dennis as a keep-fresh, get-rich fight. So I’m going to go in and put Dennis away, we’re going to drag Jose Aldo back to Ireland, fill out an 80,000-seat football stadium and I’m going take the belt home to Ireland.
“[Siver] has the same body type as Diego Brandao — small, short, he won’t trouble me. He won’t land one bit.”
Aldo is expected to come through the bout with Mendes in Rio, where attention will turn to a showdown with McGregor.
“I am the No 1 contender,” he said. “The next time Jose steps into the Octagon after [to]night it will be to face me. In the meantime, I took a fight with Dennis Siver to eliminate another contender. It’s as simple as that.
“(Aldo) has not submitted or knocked out anybody in the past five years. How’s he going to touch me? I will be too quick for him. I will be too powerful. I will put him away.”
The Crumlin native also told watchers that Aldo’s skull would be caved in and he’d raise his head to the crowd.
Its takes cajonès the size of coconuts to stand in front of the mans hometown crowd and say that. Fair dues Conor
Some of the readers just don’t get it, do they? Everyone saying “oh he’s an arsehole” or “WWE carry on” needs to realise that this is exactly how to maximise box office success and draw money in a combat sport. Chael Sonnen was doing this long before McGregor, and he’s one of the biggest stars the company has ever seen. Personality goes a very long way, and if he can rile up crowds in Brazil and make them hate him, then they will sure as hell buy a ticket to see him get his head kicked in. On the flipside, get people on board and play up the fighting Irish thing, and he’ll sell out arenas full of the Irish contingent for the next decade. The man is money, and Dana knows it. There’s not a lot that MMA can/should adopt from WWE, but a cocky ‘heel’ persona (exaggerated or not) like Conor’s will make a lot of people very rich.
Exactly. People who dislike him will tune in to watch him lose. Those who like him will tune in to watch him win. Dollar bills everyone
“Some people pay to see me win, some people pay to see me lose, but they all pay” – Floyd Mayweather.
Ridiculous.. WWE carry on! Beginning to have real doubts about this as a sport.. Seems to be all show no substance!
Marc, like every sport it needs money. MMA is relatively new on the scene so it has to try and compete against the more established sports. It’s the fastest growing sport in the world. Interest has to be drummed up someway and with the likes of BT sport buying the TV rights for UK and Ireland it shows how popular it is getting.
Jaysus that McGregor is an arsehole. It didn’t much for his head to swell. I hate to see him if he won something