UFC featherweight challenger Conor McGregor believes he “would kill” Floyd Mayweather Jr. inside 30 seconds if the two ever came face-to-face.
The Irishman suggests any fighter who excels in one area isn’t a specialist but should be considered “a rookie in ten other areas,” reported during his chat with Chris Jones of Esquire. As such, he believes Pretty Boy would stand no chance in the Octagon:
If you can box, what happens if I grab hold of your legs? If you put me face-to-face with Floyd Mayweather—pound-for-pound boxing’s best—if I fought Floyd, I would kill him in less than thirty seconds. It would take me less than thirty seconds to wrap around him like a boa constrictor and strangle him.
McGregor has finished just three of his 19 professional fights by submission, the last of which came via rear-naked choke in his 2012 Cage Warriors bout with Dave Hill.
The 26-year-old believes this is the “most dominant submission,” a manoeuvre which leaves his foe with no other option but to tap or welcome the darkness: “You can do nothing to me, but I can do whatever the f–k I want to you,” said McGregor, per Jones. “I have complete control.”
McGregor recently tweeted an image of his new tattoo, perhaps an ominous sign for his future opponents:
While McGregor would undoubtedly enjoy the advantage against Mayweather in an MMA fight, the opposite would be true if the pair stepped into a boxing ring. McGregor throws bombs in his slick stand-up style, but even he would struggle to argue he’d have any joy in a straight boxing contest against Mayweather.
McGregor is always striving to improve and to fulfill his potential. His UFC 189 title shot against Jose Aldo is the first opportunity for Notorious to announce himself as the world’s best. Aldo hasn’t lost a professional battle since his 2005 defeat to Luciano Azevedo at Jungle Fight 5, so he poses a major threat to McGregor‘s self-confidence and ego.
Yet the Dublin native rarely appears worried. He believes every event allows him to evolve, including death, per Jones:
Even in death, they say your vision, you can see everything. It’s almost like you’re evolving to the next stage. It’s like a different plane of existence, just another form of movement, now we’re moving through the fucking universe or I don’t know what the f–k. Think of what’s out there.
New avenues are opening up all the time for McGregor. While he’ll (most likely) never step into action against Mayweather, his comments underline the unshakeable self-belief which has seen him rise to the top. Does he believe he can kill arguably the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter? Of course he does, and all within the time it takes to lace up his boots.
This fearless attitude has proven unstoppable so far. Aldo is a different class to the fighters McGregor has faced before, though, and is someone who won’t be overruled by the intricacies of his style.
Their July 11 Vegas showdown comes two months after Mayweather takes on Manny Pacquiao, so it would be an interesting subplot to see Money sitting alongside the action just for McGregor‘s reaction alone.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com