ShoutOut interview
The band are interviewed by a Portuguese music blog where they talk about their sound, touring with James and a few favourites, including a wish to one day play Glastonbury.
First and foremost we write and perform great songs with infectious melodies and lyrics that connect and mean something to people. Whatever happens with the band, it is amazing to think that our music has been listened to and enjoyed by people around the world.
Mayweather ‘afraid of a fight’
In an interview with The LAD Bible, McGregor says Mayweather is afraid to fight (at 10m50s in video).
Floyd’s afraid of a fight. Floyd doesn’t want the fight. Floyd wants a boxing match. And I’ve already said ‘No problem! Get my f-cking money. And when you get my money then we can box, in this boxing match, under this set of specific rules that will keep you alive. I’m here. Where’s my money? Cos If you keep dropping my name and you don’t have the money I’ll show up at your front door, so we’ll see…I don’t need rules, so I’m open. Right now it’s just talk.
Fortune profile
In a profile in Fortune, Carter talks about Spotify’s relationship with its customers.
The music industry did a terrible job of building a relationship with consumers. Spotify was one of the first services that actually focuses on the consumer because they don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars a year on music.
And on his skillset:
The only two things that ever came naturally to me are music and investing.
Inside United interview
The band are interviewed in Manchester United’s Inside United magazine, where they talk about their love for the team.
My dad bangs on about Best, Charlton, and Law — I’d love to see them up close now and compare them to today’s greats.
Explains reasons for leaving UFC
In an interview with Yahoo, Aldo says he has several reasons for wanting to leave UFC, including the lack of a quick rematch with McGregor and not being paid bonuses.
Conor is not my issue. My issue is that I feel Dana is not in control any more. It’s a runaway train. Things have been promised and not delivered and he’s no longer in charge, no longer the boss…My dissatisfaction has been brewing for a long time. Before my loss to McGregor when I had to pull out of our first fight [scheduled for UFC 189 in July], I was not happy with the way the UFC spun my rib injury. I was not happy to see them mischaracterise my injury and not support me as I had to pull out of that fight….When I lost to Conor McGregor, I had been undefeated for nearly 10 years. I think if anybody deserved an immediate rematch, it was me against Conor in those circumstances. It was a quick fight. I got caught and the fans in the arena didn’t really get to see a full fight. I think that for everything I’d already achieved for the sport and my record, it was a rematch I deserved immediately and without a doubt.
I hear a lot of people say the reason I don’t call the shots and that I’m not happy with my income is that I don’t sell fights. People have said that to me and they’ve said it about me. I’ve heard people say, Jose needs to be a better marketer; he needs to sell his fights more. But that’s not the philosophy I was raised with…Where the sport is going is not respectful. The people who are selling fights are people who are giving each other the middle finger, throwing objects at press conferences, getting caught snorting cocaine and making headlines for all kinds of wrong reasons. What I was taught and what I believe in is, I do my best inside the cage. I believe people want to watch me for my ability as an athlete…If the direction the sport is going is you’ve got to make headlines for the wrong reasons in order to be worthy of respect and in order to be worthy of the right income, it’s not something I’ll ever be on board with.
He also says he is considering a career in professional soccer.
Men’s Health interview
McGregor is interviewed by Men’s Health magazine, where he explains how to win a bar fight.
You want to hit someone on the soft part of their face. I recommend putting your fist between their nose and mouth. It’s tender there. To hit someone on the chin you need power. In any case, don’t wait. Hit first and hit hard. Get in and get out.
On his life plan:
I have a plan. Get in, get rich, and get out.
Does he ever fell fear?:
No way, man. It feels like freedom. It’s the one time in my life where I get to do whatever the f-ck I want.
Northern Soul interview
The band are interviewed by Northern Soul, a music blog. Aaron Starkie:
Last year when we played Ramsbottom it felt like the time that things were starting to kick off, and we were getting one or two festivals. And word started spreading.
On new songs:
We’re getting evicted from our rehearsal rooms, which doesn’t help. Someone’s bought the building and they’re turning it into a block of flats. We intend to have a month of writing and perform new material at the Ritz.
McGregor is ‘a lie’
Alvarez says that he believes that McGregor would represent a break in the quality of his opponents.
In a sparring room, there is always a guy that we call ‘the rest round. [McGregor] is the rest round. He is the guy you grab when you are super tired and you say ‘Come on man, lets do a round’. To me, to the level of guys that I compete with, to the the level of guys that I’ve fought in my life, and the level of guys I train with every day. He comes to our gym and trains – he is the rest round. For everyone, not just me. For Frankie[Edgar], for Edson[Barboza], for Marlon[Moraes], for any one of us…I was impressed by the first seven minutes. Then it all looked really sloppy and didn’t look of championship calibre. It didn’t look like a guy who spent $300,000 on a training camp. I could have done that shit for like $5.
Past the eight minute mark, I don’t see anything but than being dominant. He can do well because it’s easy to be technical in the first round or two, but when the shit hits the fan and it turns into a fight – I will f-cking dominate this guy every step of the way. When he is a little bit tired and he has to dig down – it’s over. It’s all over…There is no Santa Clause – he don’t exist. It was a lie and I’m going to steal the magic from everyone. The magic is going to be gone. And I can’t wait. It’s going to be a great time for me.
Talks about helping McGregor train
Wallace talks about training with McGregor, taking the place of Nate Diaz in sparring sessions.
I couldn’t believe it when I heard at the time. I thought he [Conor McGregor] was joking, then I rang Mick [Michael Conlan] straight away and asked him if he was winding me up. But when I found out it wasn’t a joke I replied back to tell him I’d be delighted to go…We mainly did two sessions a day, it was well structured and I was mainly used on the boxing days…I’m a lot sharper than Diaz, it’s plain to be seen. He’s slow and sluggish but it’s his fitness and toughness that wins him a lot of his fights. But I watched a lot of his footage, his big long one-two and a kind of slap hook catching as the opponent comes in. I tried to mimic him the best I could to help McGregor deal with it…[Conor] couldn’t thank us enough for the work that we had done. Because when people were watching the fight, it was more like a boxing match rather than MMA.
Accurate fight simulations key to win
Kavanagh says McGregor’s UFC 202 training not only used training partners capable of mimicking Diaz inside the cage on MMA sparring day, they also attempted to mimic fight day conditions in every other possible way.
We made sure that we did a lot of very accurate fight simulations. On our MMA sparring day, we really treated it the exact same as fight day. What he was going to eat on fight day, how he was going to rest – we mimicked it perfectly. We left the house at the same time he was going to leave the house for fight day. One of the guys that we brought in as a sparring partner, they didn’t hang out together, they didn’t become friends, they didn’t chat to each other. And when they would go into the gym, they would get changed in a different room and they wouldn’t talk to each other until they were actually sparring. And then, as sort of a stroke of luck, this particular guy we got, he actually liked to do some shit-talking.
McGregor ‘can be in peak form by UFC 205’
Dalby talks about McGregor’s training and recovery.
The basic problem with Conor is that he is a man obsessed. If he is left to his own devices, he will self-destruct. He will train himself into oblivion. And that’s what he had been doing in the past. He had been over-training to the point that he would make himself ill and then he would take time off…The end justifies it all. The fact is, he went a hard, hard five rounds and he won at the end of the five rounds…The man is capable of going a hard 29 minutes. His fitness level is exceptional now. You can see how quickly he can recover in the one minute between rounds, he comes back up fresh again [at the beginning of each new round]…He can be in peak form for November. There are a lot of variables there. I mean it’s up to what Dana White wants him to do, it’s up to whether any of the other contenders want the fight. But from a medical standpoint, there is absolutely no reason why he can’t fight in November. It’s more down to the logistics of it, from the UFC and the other fighters, nothing to do with his health or conditioning…I would like to see him fight [Jose] Aldo. There is some unfinished business that’s going on there.
Diaz: Immediate McGregor rematch unlikely
Speaking to Sonnen on his podcast, Diaz says he doesn’t expect an immediate rematch.
I don’t know [what’s going on behind the scenes]. Remember last time they rushed to his house the next morning and said he was all obsessed or whatever? I was pretty crazy about it for a couple of days, but it’s whatever to me, you know? I won that fight and I’m not like jumping for joy already for round three. I think I beat him twice, so it’s 2-0 as far as I’m concerned. If they want to do it down the road, I don’t know – I’m not in a hurry. I believe they know too, because he’s got a smart coach on his hands. Him and his coach know what happened in the fight and they’re not stupid, so I think they are going to do what they can to return to his division and get onto a new stage.
Skiddle interview
The band are interviewed by Skiddle, where they describe 2016 as “mind-blowing”.
We supported James in May on ‘The girl at the end of the world’ tour and played venues up and down the country including Kentish Town Forum, Brixton Academy and Manchester Arena. We were blown away with the support we got from James and their fans. Jim and Saul from the band would watch our set pretty much every night. We had to do an acoustic set for one of the gigs as David our drummer was unavailable. I think Saul could sense we were a bit nervous and surprised us by joining us on stage to play violin on a track of ours called Forever In Your Debt…Manchester will always be the centre of our universe, it always feels great to play Manchester especially recently our show at Gorilla at the end of last year was unreal. We were all really proud of getting that far so the Ritz should be another level again…We are writing in the run up to the Ritz so should have a new track or two, we will also be writing more in the new year. I guess we will tour again once we have a bulk of new stuff.
Backstage interview
McGregor gives a backstage interview. On what he said to Diaz.
You’re a f-ckin’ absolute warrior. Respect. We’ll do it again.
Will trilogy be his next fight?
Probably not. The belt situation is lingering. I’ve gotta talk about what’s next. I’m speaking to new people right now. There’s a lot of options. And some might not be this sport.
About Diaz comments that he was ‘running away’:
He’s a big boy. A big volume puncher. I had to get out of there, being the beats down and settle myself. But he’ll drop too. I was on my feet the whole time. I wasn’t wobbled or nothing… Fair play to him…The class was evident in the early rounds of that fight. His size and his durability came into it in the later rounds. But I’m the better fighter, it’s as simple as that.
Post-fight interview
Diaz gives a post-fight interview.
I thought I won, at least three rounds to two. I didn’t even think that was a question. And they gave it to him. I’m not bitter, it’s all good. I got paid…He did a lot of running in that fight. He should have got a yellow card for that type of thing. I chased him round that thing. He was scared to engage. I feel like they should have taken points for that…To top it off I was injured coming into this fight. That ain’t some excuses. I hurt my knee about a month ago I wasn’t able to train jiu-jitsu for the last month. And then about two weeks after that I was sparring boxing and I really hurt my rib. That put me out of sparring. Not to make excuses, I got that all on videoed up. He should have finished me off. If I was fighting me I’d have took me clean out…I just stayed in one spot. He was running laps around me.
On the third fight at 155:
I’ve been at 155 my whole career! When Conor’s ready to do his thing again, no rush, take your time, go on vacation, or we can do it any time.
Did you enjoy it in there?
No. Look at my face.
White: An ‘epic fight’
White appears on ESPN to talk about McGregor-Diaz UFC 2o2.
It lived up to all my expectations, and exceeded it. I didn’t see that fight going five rounds, but it did. One minute it looked like Conor was gassed, and he got a second wind. Diaz got dropped a couple of times, looked like he was done, and he came back. It’s an absolute epic fight. [Conor] did what I thought he might do. He was chopping that leg. I thought he would go to the body a lot more.
On a third fight:
Well Connor has to defend his title or give it up…If I was Conor I would defend my title.
UFC Tonight interview: ‘I have not over trained’
McGregor is interviewed on UFC Tonight.
I have not overtrained this time. When you show up at the gym and train eight, nine hours without no real start or finish, you go into that overtraining mode, so we have been very careful of that. My body has responded very well to this new structure, and I look forward to showing that on Saturday night.
‘I was launching hydration’
McGregor appears on UFC Tonight. Asked about the water bottle fight.
Look, I seen panicking up into the stands. And I thought maybe there was a case of dehydration going on. I was simply launching some hydration for people. Around the desert here it’s intense. In reality, they were walking out talking shit and throwing bottles. If you want to fight, let’s fight. It was handbags. It was nothing. I just defended myself.
On WWE comments:
It was not planned in any way. I was asked a question and I just rolled with it and it took on a life of its own…It’s been amusing watching all these dweebs sputter around. They don’t know what to do when a real man comes up and questions whatever it is they do. I am laughing all the way the the bank with it.
Revenge is Coming interview
UFC releases a video of Olivi interviewing McGregor. After his UFC 196 defeat:
I sit in a dark room and plot my return…You just got to embrace it. it’s a crazy game. anything can happen. I just broke it down into small pieces, analysed the fight…I’ve watched the fight many times. I don’t know how many but I’ve certainly studied it, very much so…I wanted that rematch instantly.
On training:
Y’know you’ve got to be switched on for five minutes. It’s a five minute high paced round. There was a time when I was just showing up to the gym. There was no class or session. I was just rolling into the gym, and I’d train with whoever was there. If I saw a jiu-jitsu guy there — let’s roll. If I saw a boxing guy, let’s box. There was no real start, no finish, no structure. That was beneficial at some point, but when you’re preparing for a high-paced round, you need to prepare. You need to be on and off.
UFC Sportscenter interview
McGregor talks about the bottle-throwing incident on UFC Sportscenter.
I see it as handbags. They walked out shouting and talking. What was it? We’re here ready to fight, we’re ready for war. Let’s bring it.
On why he was late:
When a McGregor shows in town the traffic builds up, so we were just a little bit caught in the Las Vegas traffic. I was just a couple of minutes late, that’s all. At least I showed up this time.
