Bellew: ‘There’s not a chance in hell that McGregor needs just one punch’
Boxing champion Tony Bellew writes that McGregor will need multiple effective techniques to beat Mayweather.
The only way I can see Conor McGregor causing trouble is if he jumps on Floyd Mayweather, non-stop punching. That is the only slither of a case I can make for a McGregor win. But, how long could he keep doing that before he gets countered? Getting close in the boxing ring and octagon is completely different. When you get close in the octagon you’re allowed to hit and hold…Looking at the Paulie Malignaggi clips, it looks like McGregor was using a lot of slaps and uppercuts on the inside – that’s not going to work. Mayweather will tuck up and come back fast and vicious. A counter left hook would smash into McGregor’s temple…And on that Malignaggi ‘knockdown’ – it doesn’t matter anyway. That’s sparring…The gym does not mean anything. It gets you ready for when you’re under the lights, that’s it…His punch looked good, straight with some power. But listen, Mayweather is the best ever and McGregor was found out against Nate Diaz in stand-up…Diaz did not stop McGregor on the floor. Yeah, he choked him out, but he got him to the floor by consistently punching him in the face…Are you trying to tell me Conor McGregor hits harder than Alvarez, than Shane Mosley, than De la Hoya, than Hatton – the list is endless. There’s not a chance in hell that McGregor needs just one punch.
Mayweather vs McGregor Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 1
UFC releases the first episode of McGregor vs Mayweather Embedded, its behind-the-scenes video blog. McGregor continues to perfect his skills in the gym, as his coaches talk glove size and Game of Thrones. Mayweather and his team practice their swings at Topgolf.
Roddy: ‘We believe we can shock the world’
McGregor is ready ‘to shock the world’ says his striking coach Roddy. Roddy says McGregor has no doubt in his belief that he can create one of the greatest upsets of all time in a boxing ring.
I think there will be a little bit of feeling out most definitely when the bell rings. I’ve been with Conor many, many years now and we have brought in everybody over the years. Check out this guy, Conor. World class Thai boxer. Never been touched by anybody. Conor goes in, he throws a few shots, figures the guy out, he reads the patterns and then knows exactly what they are going to do. He knows before they know. Then he puts the shots in that apply and they fall over…Ok, Conor, we’ve got this tae kwon do guy. He moves a totally different way. He does this and does that. He goes in, moves around with him, figures him out, puts the shots in that apply, guy falls over…We’ve done this with amateur boxers, professional boxers. Every single person that has walked in the gym and I’ve watched him spar, it takes him a minute or two. It depends how good they are. But it takes no more than a minute for him to figure them out and put the shots in that apply. When you see this happen over and over again, you can’t doubt him.
Kavanagh: ‘I expect Conor to go in there and completely dominate’
In an interview with The Mac Life, Kavanagh says McGregor is ready
He has gone at a complete new level, now that he’s been able to focus on the hand techniques in MMA, what we call boxing…I feel this is a very interesting fight, in terms of both camps have such high expectations. A lot of times you go to an MMA fight and you expect to win, but there’s a possibility of losing. [Mayweather’s team] don’t expect Conor to land a punch. They don’t expect to win, they expect it to be an absolute walk in the park…and I can honestly say, I don’t expect this to be the hardest fight of all time for Conor. I expect him to go in there and completely dominate. So one of us is living in a delusion..I really find it hard to imagine anything else other than Conor really putting on a clinic, and really destroying him.
Lobov: Nurmagomedov’s popularity in Russia ‘because of McGregor’
Lobov says Nurmagomedov is only popular in Russia because of McGregor.
It would be very hard to say who would be the bigger draw in Russia between Khabib and Conor. I honestly feel that Khabib is as big as he is in Russia because of Conor McGregor. A lot of people in Russian aren’t happy with how Khabib has been behaving with all of his pullouts. This isn’t a very manly thing to do, not showing up for a fight. In Russia, the people have been brought up tough. It used to be the Soviet Union. The thing everybody thinks of when they think about Russia is how tough the people are. When they see a fighter continuously pulling out, that’s something that they really don’t like. Then they look at a guy like Conor who always shows up and does what he says he’s going to do. That really resonates with the Russian public.
Mayweather Sr.: We’ll ‘sue’ Conor McGregor if he fights dirty
Mayweather Senior says that they will sue McGregor if he ‘fights dirty’.
It’s gonna stop right there…And guess what? Then we’re gonna throw a big suit at him…There’s enough people around here suing everybody for nothing, and this is something that you can be screwed for. Like I said many times before, Floyd is better. But I’m saying here now, he’s training good enough for a guy like this. Conor, first of all, showed the whole world his egg, and I think you know what I’m talking about…And guess what, it ain’t nothing.
McGregor gives two fans surprise VIP trip to Las Vegas for Mayweather fight
McGregor surprises Lee Hammond, an up-and-coming amateur fighter, and Sergey Pikulskiy, a wrestling coach, who are both members of McGregor’s Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, with a VIP trip to Las Vegas to watch the Mayweather fight. The two of them thought they were at the gym to record ‘good luck’ messages for McGregor with his new sponsor, Betsafe, but once they had been filmed giving their support, they were shown a clip which contained a message from McGregor to them. ‘Notorious Airways’ has been created by Conor McGregor and Betsafe, as a program to fly a small selection of lucky attendees to the fight.
Congratulations to Lee Hammond and Sergey Pikulskiy of Straight Blast Gym – you get to fly on my personal private jet to Las Vegas to witness my fight on August 26th. Congratulations boys and I will see you there.
Mayweather vs McGregor All Access Episode 4
Showtime releases the fourth episode of All Access, its behind-the-scenes series about the build up to the McGregor-Mayweather fight. Dana White:
From the first day I met him I knew he’d be a big star. I call him ‘The Unicorn’. He’s very, very smart. His comedic timing is perfect. He’s a very likable guy. There’s no persona with Conor McGregor. He is who he is. I asked his girlfriend one time, ‘Is he like this 24/7?’ and she said, ‘Y’know Dana, sometimes I wake up and he’s shadow boxing in his underwear at three in the morning. That’s who he is.’…If Conor McGregor wins this fight, and he knocks out Floyd Mayweather, it will be the greatest upset in the history of sports. It is literally all anyone will talk about for a year…He has the ability to make you believe.
Weidman predicts McGregor-Mayweather trilogy fight
Former UFC middleweight champion, Chris Weidman, predicts that McGregor will win his fight against Mayweather, but that there will be further rematches.
Yeah, I mean I think I have [McGregor] winning now. I think he’s gonna win. That’s my last prediction. Third-round knockout. It’s just a gut feeling, just I’m feeling it. I think it’s gonna happen and then they’re going to have a second fight, Mayweather’s gonna win that and then next thing you know they got a Conor verses Floyd trilogy, and everybody’s spent 300 bucks, which means 500 million for each of them.
Many celebrities to attend McGregor-Mayweather fight
TMZ reports that a long list of celebrities will attend the McGregor-Mayweather fight on August 26, including Angelina Jolie, Drake, Elon Musk, Diddy, Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington, Charlize Theron, LL Cool J, Jamie Foxx, LeBron James, Bob Kraft, Rick Ross, Adam Levine, Michael Bay, Avicii, and Jeff Beacher. Others have yet to announce their attendance.
The Mac Life – Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather | Episode 3
The Mac Life releases the third episode of its behind-the-scenes videos, following McGregor during sparring camp.
Diaz: If I was McGregor I’d beat Malignaggi’s ass
Diaz talks about boxers who are criticizing McGregor.
And now all the boxers are criticizing Conor, and Conor won’t get embarrassed, but it’s a real arrogant thing to say…Sparring with some clown from wherever…I’ll beat that guy’s ass too…That guy was on the internet, talking sh-t about him the other day? What kind of sparring partner have you got? I’d shove that guy in the gym and beat his ass if I was Conor…I’d box him in the ring, whoop his ass, and then throw him down at the end…Most people in MMA can’t box. Need a lot of work. Boxers are clowns sometimes…I’m never taking the MMA fighters’over the boxers’ side, when it comes to punching…but we’re talking real fighters now you one-dimensional boxing f-cks.
Hatton: Referee Robert Byrd could prove crucial in McGregor vs Mayweather
Hatton, who was beaten by Mayweather in the tenth round, and believes that Joe Cortez, who was refereeing, didn’t allow him the opportunity to fight on the inside, says the decisions of the referee will be crucial in McGregor’s fight against Mayweather.
If the referee lets him have a crack. I think when I look back on it (my fight with Mayweather) I hope the referee lets Conor have a go. I’m not saying that I’d have won the [Mayweather] fight anyway if the referee had let me had a go. All you want is a fair crack of the whip. I think he must be thinking the same as me. Just let me have a fair shout and let me have a go at him. If he lets him have a fight with his strength as well, I think with Floyd at 40 years of age – we might see him dwindle a lot. If Conor can put his foot on the gas from there on in he might get a late stoppage or maybe even a points win. I think Conor will probably say I don’t mind losing the early rounds – as long as bit by bit I can sap his strength and drain him – and slow him down a bit. You’d have to say with Mayweather’s boxing ability the early part of the fight is Floyd’s but eventually if he’s given the opportunity by the referee to keep on him and keep on him, by the time it gets to round 6, 7 and 8 – then it might be Conor’s part of the fight
I Am Lion, Fear Me
James Poole creates a song and video for McGregor that he says can be used as a walkout theme.
No one believed me but I saw it clearly. I AM LION, FEAR ME
https://www.facebook.com/JamesPooleHQ/videos/1624990234186124/
McGregor responds to Haye’s loose-armed mockery
After Haye mocks McGregor’s loose-limbed training exercise:
Everyone in the gym was doing their best Conor McGregor impression today, I think I won. Let's hope his fight v Mayweather is entertaining🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/1uvFrYaviL
— David Haye (@davidhaye) August 15, 2017
McGregor responds, referencing Haye’s broken-toe excuse after losing to Wladimir Klitschko in 2011:
It’s a shoulder-loosening exercise. It gets the shoulders warmed up but you’ve got to do it correctly. I saw David Haye hit pads with it but you can’t hit pads when the shoulder’s disconnected. You hit when the shoulder is disconnected and you’ll do serious damage to yourself. And David Haye is a man who has pulled out of contests with a sore baby toe so he must be careful with the way he hits pads.
Mayweather, Malignaggi: McGregor was dirty when sparring
Mayweather says footage of McGregor sparring Malignaggi shows the UFC lightweight champion to be “extremely dirty” in the ring.
A lot of shots were illegal. Lots of grappling and illegal punching behind the head…He had Joe Cortez in his camp but I still saw him being extremely dirty. My job is not to worry about the referee but to let the referee do his job.
Malignaggi also says the same:
His intensity is a good thing. I just don’t know if he can go without fouling. Fighting up close, I think he gets a bit confused and he ends up fouling. I think that’s where he can be most intense but fighting up close is the hardest thing in boxing to learn and I don’t think you can do that in a few months.
McGregor waxwork unveiled
Tony McGregor, Conor’s father, reveals a waxwork of the fighter, created by The National Wax Museum in Dublin. Museum:
[This work is] a new and innovative artistic and technical process that involved 3D scanning in the conjunction with wax sculpting was used to create an uncannily lifelike wax character.
McGregor: I’ll break Mayweather inside four rounds
McGregor talks to O’Brien, with O’Brien referencing his appearance on the show two year’s before, where McGregor said he wanted to fight Mayweather for the first time.
COB: Conor, you first predicted this fight two years ago on this show. Let’s take a look…What if you were in the ring with Floyd Mayweather?
CMG: If your asking if I’d like to fight Floyd, who wouldn’t like to dance around the ring for $180 million? If we were to get it on, I would most certainly dismantle him.
In the present day:
CMG: There will be no dancing in there. I’m going to go straight forward, and put him away…inside four rounds!…
Responding to Mayweather saying he is going to go down on his face or his back:
I’m going down…down in the history books.
McGregor praises Celtic FC banner
McGregor praises a UFC-themed banner that was displayed at Celtic’s match against Astana. The banner uses McGregor’s motto: We’re not here to take part – We’re here to take over.
Celtic Football Club STAND UP!!! This is what die hard support from your fans looks like! What a sight! What a team! Thank you all!
Celtic Football Club STAND UP!!!
This is what die hard support from your fans looks like!
What a sight! What a team!
Thank you all! pic.twitter.com/txU38gCogI— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 17, 2017
McGregor: I am still the UFC featherweight and UFC lightweight champion
On his media conference call, McGregor says he still considers himself the UFC featherweight and UFC lightweight champion
I mean, how can I not consider myself the UFC featherweight world champion and the UFC lightweight world champion? The current UFC featherweight world champion is Max Holloway, a man who I dismantled, and the former was Jose Aldo — I still reign supreme over that division. And then also, the 155-pound division, I know there’s talks of an interim belt, I’d only won that belt, and literally a month later there was an interim scheduled…But it is what it is, everyone knows I am the multiple-weight world champion of the UFC’s featherweight division and lightweight division, and I look forward to going back and continuing where I left off.