Apologises
Van Heerden apologises to McGregor.
After a Good Sleep you all made me think!! I Apologize for my Tweets should have kept it to myself Conor .M did me a Fav in the End #Sorry
— Chris van Heerden (@TheHeat001) July 5, 2016
ESPN Magazine nude photoshoot
McGregor appears nude in ESPN Magazine for its Body Issue. In the article McGregor talks about his life and work.
I dreamt every day of making it as a fighter, every damn day. Sitting on in the car park, on my lunch break, early mornings. I always visualized climbing the ladder of the fight game and reaching the pinnacle…You grow up where I’m from, you must learn how to defend yourself as a young man. I was no different. I got into it to learn how to fight, and that’s why I walked into my first combat gym. I’m just a kid that defied the odds. I’m just a kid that ignored the doubt. I’m just a kid from a little place in Dublin, Ireland, that went all the way, and I’m going to continue to go all the way…The McGregor clan, we are warriors all through. We are famous all through the world for our fighting capabilities of all generations. So I have no doubt that’s stood to me and that led me down this path and gave me what I have.
If I only had to focus on boxing, hell, I’d be neck and neck with Floyd right now….Many people who practice in only one discipline of fighting are lying to themselves. You can’t fight fully. It’s limited. It’s not the full circle. You’re afraid of everything else. You’re just doing this one single thing. But we practice in everything.
UFC 202 Tickets On-Sale press conference
White, McGregor and Diaz appear at the UFC 202 Tickets On-Sale Press Conference.
Promises trilogy fight with Diaz
McGregor says that if he wins against Diaz, he will fight him a third time.
I’ll beat Nate, get that win back, dominate my division again, and then we’ll retalk for the trilogy fight with Nate. I believe this will be a trilogy fight.
McGregor, Diaz face off
McGregor and Diaz face off after the Tickets On-Sale Press Conference. McGregor asks White to let them go face-to-face, but White keeps them apart. McGregor:
Let’s go face to face. I wanna see his eyes.
Alvarez wants ‘gimme’ fight with McGregor
Alvarez says he would like to fight McGregor in the future.
I would ask [UFC president] Dana White, ‘Please give me an easier fight, like Conor McGregor. I deserve that. I’ve been fighting the best guys, so I would like a gimme fight. So, Conor, I’d more than welcome that…Look, there’s a lot of guys in the UFC who are good at one thing, and they get matched up stylistically well. They make their way to the top without ever going against the true best guys in the division. They sneak their way around them, and they live off perception, not what really is. [McGregor] is one of them. I think he can get found out. If he was ever to fight Rafael Dos Anjos or to fight myself, he’d get found out very quickly.
Press conference behind-the-scenes video
The Mac Life releases behind-the-scenes footage from McGregor’s UFC 202 press conference.
The Body Issue video
The Mac Life releases a video of McGregor, showing the photo shoot for ESPN Magazine’s Body Issue
Calls out McGregror
After his win against Frankie Edgar, Aldo immediately exchanges words with McGregor, who is sitting at the ringside.
Our new interim champ @JoseAldoJunior spent no time in calling out @TheNotoriousMMA at #UFC200 https://t.co/MXCIxD7Wc0
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) July 10, 2016
McGregor – Diaz trailer 2
UFC releases the second trailer, titled Anytime. Any Weight. Anywhere. for the UFC 202 fight between McGregor and Diaz.
Parties with Timberlake
Timberlake posts a picture with McGregor.
Just hanging with The Notorious at #UFC200
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHqfAqNh5e-/
Hosts UFC 200 after party
McGregor and Devlin host a UFC 200 after-party at Intrigue Nightclub in Las Vegas, with hundreds of fans in attendance. McGregor is surprised with an early birthday present – a huge three-tier cake adorned with a crown and Octagon fence.
‘Honored’ to have been mentored by UFC
McGregor comments on the sale of UFC to the talent and sports agency WME-IMG for $4billion.
I am honoured to have fought under the Fertitta regime! To have been mentored by these great people on this great business is a true honour!
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 11, 2016
Alvarez: UFC 202 a ‘bullshit freakshow’
In an interview with MMA Hour, Alvarez says the Diaz-McGregor UFC 202 fight is a ‘freakshow’.
I’ll be there with a bull horn ringside to that freakshow. The least-best lightweights in the division and they are the highest paid. It’s bullshit. These guys are making the highest dollars, they are both considered lightweights, I guess. They are making the highest dollars of all of us and you have guys like Rafael dos Anjos, Donald Cerrone, myself, like real top-level guys who are just kind of getting by. These two guys need to get taken out and taken out viciously so we can get some of that money.
Aldo: McGregor ‘not going to be as lucky next time’
Also says he is set on beating McGregor in a rematch.
I have one goal and which is to be champion. It’s to beat that (expletive) and he can be sure that next time I catch him here he’s not going to be as lucky as he was the first time. I was born to be the champion, if I’m the interim champion or whatever I was always the champion. If I get the fight next with him I’m going to still be the champion.
The Mac Life BSN shoot
McGregor appears in a video showing in an early morning positional sparring session, before heading off to a Bio-Engineered Supplements and Nutrition(BSN) shoot in the afternoon.
Kavanagh gives McGregor title belts
Kavanagh presents McGregor with two world title belts.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BH1XyceBAqL/
Wins ‘Best Fighter’ ESPY
McGregor wins the ‘Best Fighter’ award at the ESPYs, beating welterweight champ Robbie Lawler, and boxers Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez and Roman Gonzalez. He loses the ‘Best Breakthrough Athlete’ award to Chicago Cubs ace pitcher Jake Arrieta.
Moves training camp to Las Vegas
McGregor moves Las Vegas, to train in preparation for UFC 202 against Nate Diaz.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHyDhFrBrlL/
Kavanagh: McGregor undergoing ‘military style’ training
Coach Kavanagh says McGregor is reaching new levels of training in Las Vegas.
If I was to sum it up, there’s order to this training camp. There’s no chaos. Everything is very disciplined, very military style. Beforehand, it was kind of done on Conor’s whim, how he felt on a certain day. This training camp has been based on cycles. Every day, we start at 1 p.m. sharp. In the evenings, we do cardio training. Everything is measured, nothing is left to ‘How you feeling?’ We have a performance doctor taking care of the performance side of things, I’m taking care of the fighting side of things, everybody is working together and nothing we’ve done before comes close to comparison for this one…he last couple of weeks there has been a real level of growth to what he has been able to do. Now, he really is a truly elite athlete. He has always been an incredible fighter, but now, training like a true Olympian-style champion — for me, that’s a scary combination.