McGregor: Diaz was lucky
In an interview with MMA Podcast, McGregor says Diaz was lucky.
I truly believe…all you got to do is look at his corner. How they went from panic to elation. They were jumping around, like they had literally won the lotto, when Nate was beginning to get the upper hand. Whereas if you look at my corner, it was emotionless from start to finish. They got lucky. That’s what we feel. August 20 I will prove that.
On his attitude to the upcoming fight:
This is most certainly not another fight. We have been going to war every single day in the gym. This is a war for me.
BT Sport interview
McGregor speaks exclusively to BT Sport’s Pearce. On fighting Diaz at the same weight as UFC 196.
He got me at that specific weight. I can’t say ‘move down a weight and I’ll get you there’. What kind of fighter is that? What kind of man would I be if I was to say that. I don’t feel the size was the reason. Now in saying that, he’s gotten even bigger than the last fight. He hasn’t had to focus on that 155 pound cut. He’s been eating well I’m sure and growing naturally. I’m facing an even bigger man. But you know what? I’m excited about that, and I’ve put in the correct preparation for that.
Kavanagh: Training Camp created ‘perfect fighter’
In his interview on MMA Hour, Kavanagh talks about the effect of McGregor’s training camp.
I think the first round of the fight was all Conor. I think there is the technical superiority there. I don’t think that will have changed with 18 weeks training. I don’t think Nate will have been able to catch up on that. Clearly the way the contest ended, there was a substantial conditioning difference between the two. That’s what we have changed. Skill wise, it takes maybe ten years, the 10,000 hour rule, to get to a mastery level in something. But conditioning wise, 18 weeks is a lifetime… So I think he is the somewhat perfect MMA fighter now.
On McGregor’s mood:
I have never seen him like this six days out from a fight. Six days out from a fight is normally…you got to creep around the house a bit because the weight cut’s in, he’s tired of training at this stage and all the media obligations. Where we didn’t have to do all that much this time, there is no weight to be cut, training went perfect. He is like a kid on Christmas Eve.
Page: McGregor should aim for long fight
In an interview with Ball Street, Page offers advice to McGregor.
I feel what did him in was his ‘Mystic Mac’ thing of knocking guys out. He should never have gone in there looking for the knockout. Diaz reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where Homer Simpson gets hit loads, hits back once and wins. Next time go in and try and beat him over five rounds, say to yourself that it’s going to go the distance. The ego took a hold. He is better and more competent as a stand-up artist, and I think he can replicate that first round, but don’t burn yourself out – just keep tagging. Aim for the fourth and fifth round. Nate Diaz isn’t going to take him down. The reason he got to the ground was because a wobbled Conor went for his own takedown…Keep hitting and moving. It might not be a spectacular fight with an amazing finish, but you will get the result that you need. Everyone’s different, so don’t fight them all the same way. Don’t try to finish him. If he takes a little backstep he can win that fight – quite comfortably as well.
Diaz: ‘I’m really taking over’ if I beat McGregor
In an interview with Olivi, Diaz says the fast rematch with McGregor is the UFC’s way of erasing the results of the first fight so that the biggest moneymaker in the sport can regain the spotlight..
When it first got booked, I was like, ‘Man, they want to get me right back in there again and try to win this back and weed me out again…Can I sit back for eight months and soak up some popularity and exposure and go on vacation and do what I gotta do? They were like, ‘We want this,’ and I was like why so quick? But I was like, whatever, and then the deals got done.” [To win] I’m going to prepare, that’s about it. We’re going to see. The same thing I always say: My objective is to win, I’m going to train hard and try to get it done. I believe I’m the superior martial artist and I’m just going to go in there and get the job done. My plan is to win and do good, work hard and win the fight.
‘I helped train a guy to kill someone’
McGregor appears on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. In the interview he talks about how Carvalho’s death affected him.
How do I feel? How would you feel? It’s f**ked up. I wasn’t just watching that fight. I helped train a guy to kill someone, and then someone wound up dying. This is a f**king dangerous game. People call it a sport, but it’s fighting. I’m just making sure it ain’t me. And that’s f**ked up. Damn. I still can’t believe that kid is dead.
Diaz: The UFC created McGregor
Diaz tells Whitlock that McGregor’s fame is due to the UFC pushing his image.
Well that’s what the UFC did. They pushed his fan base and put all their energy and exposure on him. Like I said, I’ve been fighting a long time. They haven’t been (doing it for me) and they now can’t deny it. Look, they got me up here with you because I beat the guy.
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.
Tico Times interview
Lord talks to Tico Times about his acting career. On why he started acting:
Maybe it was because my mom made me act in a commercial when I was four years old. It was just one time, and I fell in love with it. It’s fun to act out another person. You can transform yourself. I like the challenge, the thrill. Before acting, you get a bit of nervous energy. It’s the same feeling that you get when you’re doing bungee jumping or skydiving. It’s the adrenaline that you get and being able to make other people laugh or cry. I haven’t yet been given a role that’s very challenging, but I’ve had small roles that are fun. I’m still waiting for that role that’ll put me out there.
Jones: McGregor forgets the UFC created him
Jones says that McGregor should not get a stake in UFC if it is sold.
No. No I don’t. The UFC has created Conor McGregor. I think sometimes he forgets that. But, he is a magnificent talent and we’re all glad to have him as a part of the sport. He’s bringing a lot of attention, and just so much more recognition. And at the end of the day, when he wins, we all win. So, I’m grateful for him.
Jones: ‘Foolish’ McGregor and Rousey believed hype
Jones says it’s important not to believe that you are unbeatable.
I know that I can be beat and I think that’s why I haven’t been beat, where some of these guys really start to believe their hype. Ronda Rousey, they were saying she’s the best fighter of all time and best athlete in the world, stuff like that and I was happy for her to hear those types of accolades, but once I realized that maybe she was starting to believe it herself, I knew she was in a dangerous spot. Conor McGregor saying these things about just being the baddest dude and ‘I’ll beat anybody at any weight class,’ that’s foolish stuff. When you believe the hype to that level, that’s when you’re in danger…People always ask if I’m competing with with Conor or Ronda. I’m not at all. I think there’s enough room in the sky for many stars. We all bring so much different things to the table, different demographics and viewership so I’m just grateful to be a part of of the conversation again of being top dog.
Kavanagh: McGregor 3.0 is stronger, more focussed
McGregor and Kavanagh talk about the fighter’s training program in a profile in the Irish Examiner. McGregor starts training at 1pm, with intense workout for over an hour. After lunch he spars with partners brought over from all around the world, finishing with more cardio in the evening. McGregor:
[For UFC 196] I was waking up late and training late, showing up here at maybe 2pm and still being here till one in the morning. Like a buzzing light. Buzzzz. I was never fully on and I was never off. I was just there. That’s not what this game is about. You need to be…[clicks fingers]…On.
Kavanagh admits he did not pay enough attention to McGregor’s training, and that the Diaz loss has helped them focus.
After the Aldo fight, I’ll admit in terms of training Conor, my foot went off the pedal altogether. I got caught up with stuff in the gym…It was supposed to be only for a week or two but it turned into six or seven and then I realised ‘We’re just two weeks out from this and I’ve barely done a session with Conor.’ Now it’s every day. We’re here at 1pm. Sharp…The only reason it didn’t happen for Conor in round two was because he got tired. That’s one thing that will not happen in this contest…The Conor that’s going out there on August 20 is an absolutely new model. This is Conor 3.0 compared to what went up against Diaz in March. And I’ve said it to Conor, whenever he’s fought his next few fights and he calls it a day, we will look at the first Diaz fight as the absolute most positive thing that ever happened to us because it taught us so much.
Danis: McGregor ‘worked his ass off’
Danis talks about his training with McGregor in Dublin.
I look up to Conor because he said he was going to do something and he went off and did it. He didn’t take any shortcuts, he worked his ass off. He talks the talk and walks the walk. He’s a good guy to learn from and be around. I really enjoyed him being around and helping him. Conor’s a great fighter, he’s good at jiu-jitsu. It’s cool to be around him, because he motivates you to be the best.
An Evening with John Kavanagh talk
To see the way that last fight went, I can’t live with it…The last fight, mid-round, I wasn’t listening, I wasn’t paying attention. That was one of the errors I made…I was a little bit heavy around the mid-section, I was over-trained and it came back and bit me in the ass…I’m looking forward to the rematch; to going back out and showing what we have learned…I’m working my nuts off for this rematch. Believe me on that. I’m feeling very confident that I’ll go in and toy with this man. He was one or two shots from being done.
Alvarez: McGregor beat himself with overconfindence
Alvarez says that McGregor wasn’t beaten by Diaz.
Diaz didn’t beat him that night. Conor beat himself, his overconfidence. Moving up in weight with that overconfidence, that’s what made him lose. But if he takes things seriously, I think it will be a different fight.
Buys family BMWs
In an interview with Irish Independent, McGregor’s father, Tony, says that Conor had bought the entire family BMWs.
Conor has a very generous nature, which he gets from his mother, and we realise that we’re very lucky. He came home from an American trip last year, and I saw this fleet of cars coming around the corner with him in the lead car, a black BMW 5 Series. I presumed it was an entourage chauffeuring him home, but he told me to hop in and asked if I liked the car? I said it was lovely and he handed me the keys and said, ‘Good, because it’s yours.’ He bought one for everyone in the family, which was really nice.
Kavanagh: Surprised if McGregor-Mayweather doesn’t happen
During a talk with MMA Underground, Kavanagh says he thinks McGregor-Mayweather will happen.
It puts it on hold. I think that contest will happen eventually but it’s on hold for now. I’d be very surprised if it doesn’t at some stage. I think it’s a bigger fight; I think there’s a lot of intrigue about it. I could be 100% wrong. Right now we’re focusing on August 20th. We have an important rematch – a mixed martial arts fight – but if in time that fight was to be announced it would not surprise me and I think it would be an interesting one.
It’s hard to beat Floyd with boxing because he seems to be almost perfect in terms of how defensive he is. I think if you’re a classically trained boxer you’re gonna lose to Floyd because he just seems to make everybody look quite ordinary. But maybe somebody who doesn’t strike like a boxer might be a new look for him. Maybe the odd sly knee and leg kick as well. [Laughs.] You get two warnings. [Laughs.]
Kavanagh: McGregor still interested in 145 fights
Kavanagh says he and McGregor have been watching the featherweight division and that what happens next will depend on how the next couple months play out
The short answer is I don’t know [if Conor will return to 145 pounds]. I’m very intrigued to see the Aldo and Edgar fight. I hope Aldo is fully recovered from the bad knockout. I thought (Chad) Mendes went back in there really quick after the knockout against Conor. People don’t realize the damage it does — it takes a long time to recover, and I think Mendes went down quicker in that fight because of that. Maybe if he’d let himself rest a bit more he might have had more fight for Edgar. I hope that’s not the case for Aldo, (I hope) we get to see a solid version of Aldo and a new kind of improved Edgar, and see what different from the first fight. So yea, let’s see that, and assess after the rematch. It’s kind of those two names and (Max) Holloway kind of in the mix, so it’s an interesting time….I thought Holloway looked fantastic the other night [at UFC 199]. I’ve said it ever since Conor fought Max, I had him as the second best 145er in the division.
Respond’s to McGregor’s PPV boast
In an interview with ESPN’s SportsCenter, Lesnar responds to McGregor’s boast that he has the largest PPV views.
I don’t know him. I know of Conor McGregor. This sport has evolved even from when I first entered the octagon. I think people are finding out that you have to talk the talk, and you have to more importantly, you have to walk the walk. For guys that can talk and walk the walk, I think it’s great. I think it’s great for the company. I’ve got no qualms with anybody. If somebody wants to state that they’re the biggest pay-per-view draw in the world, I don’t care…I’ve never come out and said, ‘I hold the most pay-per-view buys.’ All I know is what I got paid and I’m happy. Like I said, I’m a prize fighter. I don’t hang my championship trophies on the walls because they don’t pay the bills…The true competitor in me is still alive and well and I have to do this. At the top of my career, I wasn’t at the top of my game. I feel like I was cheated out of my career in the UFC. In my mind and in my heart, I never lost to a foe. I never lost to my opponent. I lost to diverticulitis. That was my opponent who beat me.
White looking at other fights for McGregor
In an interview on FOX Sports 1’s The Herd, White says the UFC has begun looking at alternative opponents for McGregor’s next fight after unsuccessfully trying to reach a deal with Diaz.
It’s just madness. It’s just been tough. It’s been a tough go-through, so we’re looking at another fight for Conor right now and we’ll see how this thing comes together. But Conor is just so obsessed with Diaz at 170, it’s been crazy. The reality is that since that Conor McGregor fight — obviously when you win a fight of that magnitude, it has definitely rubbed off on Nate. People do want to see Nate fight. People do want to see this fight again, and I’m one of those guys who, I want to make the fight that people want to see, and I believe people do want to see this fight. But, people do want to see Conor McGregor vs. Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo again too. I’m sure they would want to see him fight Rafael dos Anjos at 155 for that title, so there’s a lot of fights out there for Conor, if we can’t get this Nate fight done.
