Conor McGregor

stealinhorses

Holloway is a good fighter. Only 21 years old and was robbed against Bermudez in his last fight IMO. McGregor is the favourite going into the fight, but people are really getting ahead of themselves with this talk of Edgar/Aldo/anyone in the top 5.
IF he gets past Holloway convincingly, then MAYBE he could get the winner of Poirier/Koch, anything else is out of the question for now IMO.

Be like Nutella

most people have reacted positively to his character and his attitude as have I so you're in the minority and for good reason too - he's done nothing wrong at all and if you're offended by him in some way tough sh1t but he isn't bad for the image of MMA in Ireland he's brilliant for it and if people want to associate certain 'types' of people with MMA that's their problem... they probably have no interest in it and never will so I don't care and fuk being polite and humble and not swearing - why should he be like that? if he swears he swears jesus christ its 2013 who gives a sh1t if he swears and humble? whats that in the fight business? some people act all humble and some people don't - each to their own - this is not about pleasing you or not offending your sensibilities this is about beating people up in the cage to get the win and he talks the talk and walks the walk and isn't doing anyone (else) any harm so whats the big deal? He's not going to be the perfect media person you want him to be - he's not going to 'represent Irish MMA' like its a bloody political party he's going to represent Irish MMA talent by being talented and kickin ass! and if people enjoy his interviews and his entertaining passionate character all the better for his career and for our viewing!

mailburner

Xlami wrote: »

. He was on the third most viewed Late Late Show episode of the year.

You know I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know he was on
the late late with cathal and have just watched it
It's hard not to warm to him in fairness and I hope the fame doesn't
go to his head like bisbing for example
Someone here made comparisons with bisbing when he was and up an coming fighter to
when he was famous and how he changed (think it was scud )
late late here for anyone interested http://www.rte.ie/sport/player/1018/381532/

billy2012

Article on Connor from the UFC website. He is on the main page.

Conor McGregor is not a man, he's a movement. For proof, witness the scene when he choked out Dave Hill to win the Cage Warriors featherweight championship, McGregor hopping the cage, running into the crowd and being swallowed up whole by a frenzy of fans. Or the online campaign that pushed his UFC signing relentlessly for months, telling us we didn't know what we were missing. Or when he made his octagon debut and starched Marcus Brimage in 67 seconds and the rest of the wider MMA world who hadn't seen him did a collective jaw-drop.

Now headed for UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen, where he will face Max Holloway, the expectations following McGregor are enormous, and seemingly growing by the day. Sometimes, it's even of his doing. He has said he'd fight at 145 pounds (his current weight class) or 155, and that he'd fight on regular notice, short notice or none at all.

Conor McGregor punches Marcus Brimage in their featherweight fight


You want big expectations? How about this?

"Give me that title and I swear to God, I'll hand it back and start asking for the second one," he told FOX Sports.

If there is a fight, McGregor wants in. For him, this isn’t a career; it’s an obsession.

"I always remind myself to keep that focus and to dream," he said. "My dreams are seeming to become a reality at the minute. I can't stop it. I can't do nothing to stop it. I don’t think there’s a man alive that can do something to stop it."

McGregor's always dared to dream big. As a young boy, it was soccer -- football as they call it in his native Ireland -- that captured his interest. Even then, he could visualize himself growing up to play as a pro, a left wing lighting up the net. It's an interest that he took with him through the years. Until the time he signed with the UFC, he played with a local team. But somewhere along the way, it was combat sports which grabbed him.

Looking back, he thinks it might have to do with his size. He was always the small one being picked on, trying to compete. He vividly recalls measuring himself daily against a bannister at the bottom of the stairs, hoping to see some growth but with little movement. The need to defend himself drew him to kickboxing, and in short order, he was hooked.

Since then, it's been the same way, all competition, all the time, even when he was made to sign up for social welfare to get by. Fighting has a hold of him. Sometimes, in his quiet moments, he is pulled to do more, often reaching out to recruit training partners who may well be relaxing from a previous session.

"I can't really rest," he said. "I get fidgety. I can't not do it now. If I don't, I don't know what the f--- is going to happen. I can do nothing else. This is all I know and all I want to do. It's 24/7 for me."

Conor McGregor punches Marcus Brimage in their featherweight fight at the Ericsson Globe Arena on April 6, 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden.



His addiction has taken him down some uncharted roads, some unusual places. He's taken moves from movies and tried to replicate them. He's studied Bruce Lee, he's trained capoeira. Recently, he's become enamored with watching nature documentaries, and guess which part has captivated him?

He's watched giraffes and gorillas and other animals fight, and while he knows it might sound unorthodox, the way he sees it, anything can apply to his line of work. Every species fights. Why wouldn't it be possible to learn something from it? Why should it be wrong to at least accept the possibility that you could?

"Some coaches have a real small-minded way, they're stuck in that way where nothing else but their way works," he said. "At the end of the day, everything does work. I'm on with every style. Honestly, everything works and I'm looking to soak it all in and adapt it and use it in the cage. There is a time and a place for every move."

The 25-year-old has become renown for his striking, with 12 knockouts in his 13 pro win, but he wants to learn everything, become well-rounded, accomplish things yet unimagined.

In Holloway, he is facing another talented young striker who had won three straight before suffering a split-decision loss in May, a result which was disputed by a significant portion of media and fans. Many observers view the McGregor-Holloway matchup as a battle between future top contenders -- maybe even champions -- but McGregor doesn't even care who's standing across the cage from him.

Refusing to even name Holloway, the Irishman believes the outcome is solely dependent on him.

"I don't feel any bad feelings or good feelings towards him. I feel nothing towards him. He doesn't exist," McGregor said. "This is my time. People are here to see me. The other guy doesn't come into the equation. I respect anyone, I respect any man, no matter what. I respect people out there chasing their dream, but that changes nothing of my emotions towards any of these guys. I choose to have no emotions towards him. If you’re not part of my gym, if you're not part of my team, you don’t exist to me."

On Aug. 17, the McGregor movement threatens to become a U.S. invasion. Boston, a city with the highest percentage of Irish-American population in the country, is expected to turn out in droves to support him. McGregor can't help but smile at the thought: an Irishman in battle, proving that with a little obsession, an open mind and hard work, the final product can surpass even the highest of expectations.

_oveless_

Be like Nutella wrote: »

Incomprehensible rant

Why are you so angry?

Dermighty

Personally I think the most important thing to show non MMA fans (ie: the vast majority of people in Ireland) is that high level MMA in particular requires dedication, intelligence and mental toughness. I don't think showing highlight reels will do this. Showing the personal struggle rather than a trip in a Ferrari is the way to do this (I've no idea how the RTE documentary will turn out).

fisher8181 wrote: »

what, being polite and humble and not swearing?
wouldn't call that fu*ked up.

McGregor himself claims to be willing to improve the image of mma in Ireland.
Unfortunately he is the type of person who people associate "cage fighting" with.

He seems to be getting away with the arrogance and cockiness for the time being but this will wear thin.
Look at John Jones, everyone loved him initially but they soon realised that he was too cocky and not very humble which are not very likable traits.

Jon Jones is a phenomenal fighter and deserves to be the champion though. Mohammad Ali was insufferable with the amount of **** he used to talk, but he was one of the greatest in the history of the sport.

People can tolerate someone being cocky or loudmouthed if they back it up.

Hopefully for Conor (and for us to a lesser extent) he can back it up, he seems well on his way to being successful anyway.

SRFC

Who Cares what non MMA followers think of him or the sport,most these people dont have or ever will have any interest in the sport so why does he need to portray himself to these as something he's not,its his life he aint gettting paid to promote irish mma he's living his dream end of story jealousy is rancid among some people hating.

mailburner

SRFC wrote: »

Who Cares what non MMA followers think of him or the sport,most these people dont have or ever will have any interest in the sport so why does he need to portray himself to these as something he's not,its his life he aint gettting paid to promote irish mma he's living his dream end of story jealousy is rancid among some people hating.

agreed,
there's a hell of a lot of non mma followers on boards lately mind you

dave1982

I'm on the fence with Connor to be honest, sometimes he comes across as a arrogant asshole, more times he comes across as a kinda messer bigging himself up but still humble.I'm leaning towards the latter.That Connors just messer the way he does interviews.

Once he don't turn in a Bisping :pac:


Amazingly Sonnen is fighting on this card, can't remember last time I'd forgotten he was on the card.All a board the Connor hype train:D

fisher8181

SRFC wrote: »

Who Cares what non MMA followers think of him or the sport,most these people dont have or ever will have any interest in the sport so why does he need to portray himself to these as something he's not,its his life he aint gettting paid to promote irish mma he's living his dream end of story jealousy is rancid among some people hating.

Because when a sport grows in popularity non-mma fans get turned into mma fans and the sport becomes more mainstream and accepted which is what most people in the Irish mma community wants.
Acting like he does, doesn't help this.

_oveless_

fisher8181 wrote: »

Because when a sport grows in popularity non-mma fans get turned into mma fans and the sport becomes more mainstream and accepted which is what most people in the Irish mma community wants.
Acting like he does, doesn't help this.

Acting like what exactly? What is it that you dont like?

liverbear

Swanson just tells him to shut his mouth and beat someone in top ten

Mma roasted podcast

Ray Mond

liverbear wrote: »

Swanson just tells him to shut his mouth and beat someone in top ten

Mma roasted podcast

where is this?

dave1982

Cub Swanson

“That would be a fight that I would love to do once he makes a name for himself but right now he is still a nobody," Swanson said. "If he lives up to the hype he can fight me down the road but for now he has to fight somebody in the top ten first.”

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1734258-cub-swanson-to-conor-mcgregor-you-better-watch-your-damn-mouth

Be like Nutella

_oveless_ wrote: »

Why are you so angry?

because our constant need for political correctness annoys the crap outa me ; )... nothing wrong with people just being themselves and doin their thing, ya don't have to like all of what they do or say, invariably you won't but at least they're keeping it real as they say. I just wana see him win fights and move up the food chain. With one Irish fighter in the UFC it's got that Italia '90 buzz about it which is awesome! hence all the debate and arguin and hatin and excitement..

darced

This post has been deleted.

Mellor

[QUOTE=fisher8181;85937149
The first thing these kids are taught is to never even attempt to choke somebody, not to mention to fully choke them out, unless you are in a very threatening situation and what will we see McGregor doing on RTE? A then laughing about it.
.[/QUOTE]
No it isn't.
Where are you pulling that one from. BJJ is a sporting martial art, not something a nonsense self defense class. The RNC is one of the most basic chokes and kids as young as 4 learn how to effectively use it in competition.

fisher8181

Mellor wrote: »

No it isn't.
Where are you pulling that one from. BJJ is a sporting martial art, not something a nonsense self defense class. The RNC is one of the most basic chokes and kids as young as 4 learn how to effectively use it in competition.

Yes, use it in competition not against a random person on the street.
So you think its okay then to fully choke someone out like that, someone who has probably never trained before?
Would you find that funny too?

Jayo_M

fisher8181 wrote: »

Yes, use it in competition not against a random person on the street.
So you think its okay then to fully choke someone out like that, someone who has probably never trained before?
Would you find that funny too?

The guy asked to be choked out, right? He didn't just pick some random person. And what difference do you think it would make if the guy had trained before?

Maybe the fella will tap next time :pac:

Mellor

fisher8181 wrote: »

Yes, use it in competition not against a random person on the street.
So you think its okay then to fully choke someone out like that, someone who has probably never trained before?
Would you find that funny too?

You said they thought to never choke unless its a dangerous situation. I was pointing out that that wasnt true.

Now you making out it was a random person on the street! It wasn't, they were discussing bjj specifically and he asked to be put in a choke. No idea what his lack or training has to do with anything.

I'm not sure if you are trolling or just clueless.

dave1982

Its going to be Mayhem in here Saturday night!!!

MrStuffins

Holloway is so dangerous. I can't shake that bad feeling!

canonball5

MrStuffins wrote: »

Holloway is so dangerous. I can't shake that bad feeling!

I couldn't agree more. Holloway is so tough and an excellent fighter. It's going to be a lot closer and a much tougher fight than people believe it will be.

Zero-Cool

It's great to see Americans get as excited as the Irish with Conor. His media day tomorrow should be class.

Ush1

MrStuffins wrote: »

Holloway is so dangerous. I can't shake that bad feeling!

I think that also but watch his fight with Garcia, will make you feel better.

Easy Rod

MrStuffins wrote: »

Holloway is so dangerous. I can't shake that bad feeling!

I'm actually feeling the butterflies already. I've been a massive fan of this sport for 6 or 7 years but i've never had someone to really support and really want to win like i do Conor.

McGregor has added an extra dimension to the sport for me.

event

I'm sure it's been asked loads of times but what channel is this on?
I've scanned ahead to Saturday night on ESPN and both setanta channels but can't see a mention anywhere

xtal191

Its on BT Sports

Be like Nutella

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

wow that's a brilliant article.... probably right in most of what it says too. I'd be reading that intensely if I was Max - not sure if it'd make a difference though : )

about his stance: I've noticed a lot of fighters these days using this wide sideways stance, Jones, Machida, Conor, Rory McDonald and others. As opposed to the traditional slightly wider MT stance that most fighters adopted early in MMA. It's more defensive and suits faster movers in that it primes you for a counter strike by inviting your opponent inside your range yet keeping you head far back out of trouble as opposed to classic staggered shoulders stance with chin down and hands on jaw... think it's fair to say at this point that striking in MMA has advanced now beyond this traditional boxing/MT stance. John Kavanagh touched on it in that radio interview in the states when he talked about SBG fighters just having their own style and not worrying about traditional guard even letting their hands down if it works for them... and I agree there should be no rules on what you should do - it should all depend on your skillset - Conors fast as fuk and can hit hard from just about any angle so forget the rules do what you want - if you're a counter striker you need to invite them in anyway and that's not gona happen with a classic defensive boxing guard like Ellenberger has. There's deffo a movement away from tradition.

fisher8181

Mellor wrote: »

You said they thought to never choke unless its a dangerous situation. I was pointing out that that wasnt true.

Now you making out it was a random person on the street! It wasn't, they were discussing bjj specifically and he asked to be put in a choke. No idea what his lack or training has to do with anything.

I'm not sure if you are trolling or just clueless.

There is a big difference between being asked to be put in a choke and being fully choked unconscious.
Only a real asshole would actually follow through with that and then to laugh about it just shows a lack of class.