Conor McGregor: ‘It’s me and Ronda Rousey at the top of the game’

LAS VEGAS — The media blitz before UFC 189’s pay-per-view was crazy enough that it prompted the godfather of the mic game, Chael Sonnen, to sympathize that Conor McGregor’s workload had “crossed the line of being too much.” But in the end it worked. UFC 189 proved to be a blockbuster success even despite the last-second dropout of Jose Aldo, and now that the event is behind him, McGregor can look back and say it was all worth it.

“It’s damn hard work,” McGregor said at UFC 189’s post-fight press conference. “But every time I say, ‘you know what, f–k this. Next time I’m not doing all of this.’ And then I get handed the check, and I’m like, ‘alright then, I’ll do it one more time.'”

Pay-per-view figures won’t start rolling in for several days, but UFC President Dana White hinted that McGregor’s coronation as interim featherweight champion was already trending close to the one-million buy mark.

While that remains to be seen, it would only be the latest of the many records McGregor shattered during International Fight Week. UFC 189 smashed the promotion’s previous box office record, drawing a $7.2 million gate, and Friday’s weigh-ins were easily the most attended the UFC has ever staged.

And this is only the beginning too, considering that McGregor’s mega-fight against Aldo is now primed to be one of the biggest matches in the sport’s history, if not the single biggest.

“Right now I am running the game,” McGregor said. “I have every record in the book. The gate, the pay-per-view, all the viewing figures on FOX, UFC Fight Pass, highest attended weigh-ins. I have every record right now, and at the end of the day I’m still only 26 years of age. I am still very, very young in this game.

“Myself and Ronda (Rousey) — Ronda is an absolute machine. She’s an animal, and I relate to Ronda a lot, because I know the work she puts in media-wise and training-wise. I look at her and I take a great inspiration from Ronda. Her work ethic. I feel it’s me and Ronda at the top of the game, and I’m honored.”

LAS VEGAS — The media blitz before UFC 189’s pay-per-view was crazy enough that it prompted the godfather of the mic game, Chael Sonnen, to sympathize that Conor McGregor’s workload had “crossed the line of being too much.” But in the end it worked. UFC 189 proved to be a blockbuster success even despite the last-second dropout of Jose Aldo, and now that the event is behind him, McGregor can look back and say it was all worth it.

“It’s damn hard work,” McGregor said at UFC 189’s post-fight press conference. “But every time I say, ‘you know what, f–k this. Next time I’m not doing all of this.’ And then I get handed the check, and I’m like, ‘alright then, I’ll do it one more time.'”

Pay-per-view figures won’t start rolling in for several days, but UFC President Dana White hinted that McGregor’s coronation as interim featherweight champion was already trending close to the one-million buy mark.

While that remains to be seen, it would only be the latest of the many records McGregor shattered during International Fight Week. UFC 189 smashed the promotion’s previous box office record, drawing a $7.2 million gate, and Friday’s weigh-ins were easily the most attended the UFC has ever staged.

And this is only the beginning too, considering that McGregor’s mega-fight against Aldo is now primed to be one of the biggest matches in the sport’s history, if not the single biggest.

“Right now I am running the game,” McGregor said. “I have every record in the book. The gate, the pay-per-view, all the viewing figures on FOX, UFC Fight Pass, highest attended weigh-ins. I have every record right now, and at the end of the day I’m still only 26 years of age. I am still very, very young in this game.

“Myself and Ronda (Rousey) — Ronda is an absolute machine. She’s an animal, and I relate to Ronda a lot, because I know the work she puts in media-wise and training-wise. I look at her and I take a great inspiration from Ronda. Her work ethic. I feel it’s me and Ronda at the top of the game, and I’m honored.”