Love him or loathe him, you can’t deny that Conor McGregor was one of the most exciting fighters on the roster during his rapid rise. The Irishman is a genuine knockout artist. While his skills haven’t diminished, his hunger definitely has. With this in mind, it will be fascinating to see what he looks like when he fights Donald Cerrone.
The pair will clash in February 2020. McGregor lost to Khabib Nurmagamedov last year. You have to go all the way back to 2016 to when he last won in MMA, against Eddie Alvarez. That should have been his defining moment as he became the first UFC champion to hold two titles at the same time.
Now his coach Owen Roddy has revealed how McGregor is planning to meet Cerrone. In short, ‘Cowboy’ should stand and box at his peril. This is going to be a fascinating match-up. Any event with the Irishman is box office.
Skilled
Many believe that McGregor wanted this fight because he sees it as a soft comeback. When you consider that he probably should be fighting Justin Gaethje, then it’s clear there’s a point there. But Roddy insists that ‘Cowboy’ has a lot of skill and needs to be respected. The fight is at welterweight too, which adds a new dimension.
“I like the Cerrone fight, but he’s very talented,” Roddy told MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast. It’s only when you start looking at all of his fights and the tools that he has — he’s got weapons, he’s got lots of weapons and he’s good everywhere, he’ll mix it up. Yeah, he’s a very talented fighter, but like everyone, he has holes in his game. He has struggled a little bit with southpaws and there’s no better southpaw in the world than Conor. I think we can land shots on him and that’s what I’m most excited about.”
Build-Up
Roddy believes that this is the perfect match-up for his friend and student. The Dubliner explained that the two men’s personalities will sell this fight. He’s got a point. They’re two of the most recognisable faces on the roster. Many fans are delighted that ‘Cowboy’ is finally getting a mega-money fight after all his years of service to the UFC.
“Once things start to build [the fight will be big], the fight has only been officially announced a couple of weeks ago, so it’s building nicely. When it starts getting into the New Year, three or four weeks out it’s just going to explode. Cerrone and Conor, the matchup is perfect. Their mentalities, their attitudes…their attitudes towards fighting…I think it’s going to build for an exciting fight and exciting build-up to a fight.”
Regiment
One of the biggest questions is which version of McGregor are we going to get? The Irishman has millions of dollars resting in his bank account so that’s no longer his motivation. However, Roddy insists that his new training regime is keeping him in line.
“The training camp is structured way better,” Roddy said. “The last camp was a bit sporadic. We didn’t know what time we were training at. Sometimes it was late at night, sometimes it was early in the morning. For the past couple of months, it’s been very regimented.”
We’ll see in February.
