UFC legend, Royce Gracie praises former champion, Conor McGregor, ahead of the Irishman’s comeback following the gruesome leg injury he suffered in July of last year.
A lot has changed since Royce Gracie’s heyday, what was once perceived as a barbaric gladiatorial contest has since become one of the fastest growing sports in the world.
The athletes have also changed, Gracie for example, was a stoic man, not brash or flamboyant in any sort of way. Now though, many fighters, whether genuine or to further their careers, talk trash, wear custom suits, and almost become celebrities of sorts.
No man fits the build of the new wave of fighters more than Conor McGregor. The former double champ, has clearly been a huge inspiration for many of the fighters we see grab headlines nowadays. Although very different people, Gracie had high praise for McGregor when speaking to the Mirror as part of a Bellator media event.
“Conor McGregor can put up a show and he’s a very good fighter,” Gracie said. “He knows strategy.
“Sometimes he wins fast and sometimes he loses. People talk trash about him when he loses but hey, if you’ve never lost, you’ve never fought.”
“He’s always exciting to watch because you never know what’s going to happen, he comes to fight and every time he gets in, it’s a good fight. In the beginning it was a style against a style, today it’s not that anymore, it’s a fighter against a fighter and who has the best strategy, so anything can happen.”
When Will Conor McGregor Fight Again?
McGregor is not just returning back from two stoppages losses to Dustin Poirier, but also a broken fibula and tibia.
The Irishman has undergone surgeries and rehab, and now just around the year mark of suffering the injury, we have seen him return to the mats of SBG Ireland under the tutelage of John Kavanagh.
There has been no official timeline of when we can expect to see McGregor but with him back to being able to train all aspects of MMA, it hopefully shouldn’t be too long before we see ‘The Notorious’ make that walk to the octagon.