One of the big back-and-forth arguments that took place prior to the UFC announcing Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez for UFC 205 centered around any injuries for “Notorious.”
Owen Roddy, the head striking coach for the UFC featherweight champion, told Submission Radio recently that McGregor escaped the fight without any serious injury.
“No. No. Nothing really. Conor’s leg is perfectly fine. So yeah, no. As I said, after the Diaz fight, he was back moving around within days,” he said. “So he’s good to go and we have six weeks now. So he’ll be firing on all cylinders from now till the fight.”
McGregor will challenge Alvarez for the lightweight title, giving him the chance to be the first-ever dual UFC champion. Two previous fighters, BJ Penn and Randy Couture, have held belts in multiple weight classes at different times.
“Yeah I do in a sense. No disrespect to Alvarez, he is a great fighter and stuff, but he does move similar to a lot of people that Conor has fought. And even when Conor’s fought strikers, they all become that type of fighter. When Conor lands, you become a panicked wrestler, and that’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “Conor’s very clean, and when it comes to a couple of exchanges, Alvarez is going to feel the difference in accuracy and the difference in power and he will start to wrestle and that’s what they all do. So I mean, Conor’s fought the same type of person all his career. Alvarez is a great wrestler, so there will be things we’ll be working on with Conor to make sure that Alvarez can’t keep a hold of him, can’t keep him against the fence, but Conor’s gonna land and I think it’s going to be a matter of time before Alvarez goes to sleep to be totally honest.”
Roddy also believes that 155 pounds is the right spot for McGregor moving forward, but he isn’t ruling out a title defense at 145 just yet, either.
“For me, this is it. This is where you’re going to see the best Conor McGregor. I was talking to somebody else about this the other day, that fighting at welterweight, it’s hard for Conor to maintain his high output for 25 minutes. He’s not a welterweight. And he did it against one of the toughest fighters in the game, against Diaz, but it’s just that it’s not his weight category. And then when he moved to 145, he does a lot to get the weight off,” he said. “He makes the weight perfect, but I don’t know how much he’s recovering in that 24 hours. I can’t imagine him getting back to one hundred percent in that 24 hours when he fights at 145 – and you see what he does at 145. But at 155, if you look at some of the fights in Cage Warriors, he just looks so good at that weight. That’s the weight he was supposed to be fighting at. And I think you’ll see the fastest, the fittest and the sharpest in regards to his mind, the sharpest McGregor that you will ever see now at lightweight.
“I’m up in the air. I don’t actually know, to be totally honest. You never know. Like I said, Conor controls who he wants to fight and whatnot. The 145 weight category, I mean, I really don’t know. Maybe if Edgar had beat Aldo, then it would have been a more tempting fight. But the fact that he beat Aldo obviously in thirteen seconds, it’s not as tempting to go back down there. But who knows, Conor could just turn around and say, ‘look, I want to go back and do this. I’m gonna go back and sort Aldo out’ – and he will and he could do it. Like, he could definitely make that weight. It is hard, it’s difficult, but he could do it. And the last weight cut against Aldo was the best cut he’s ever had to 145. Like, it was the best that I’ve ever seen him. The comparison between that and the (Chad) Mendes (fight), just the difference, it was just a complete – the Aldo weight cut was perfect and he was in great form for the cut and everything. So he can do it and the last one he’s done was perfect, so he could do it again. But who knows. Who knows what’s around the corner. I never know. That’s what’s so exciting about being part of Conor’s team, you never know what’s next. Like, you really don’t. After the Diaz fight, I was like, we’ll go back down and do Aldo or we might do Diaz again, and then the Alvarez thing popped up and now that’s what we’re doing. Now it’s New York and it’s crazy, it’s exciting and it’s unbelievable. But that’s the road we’re all on with Conor. Like, who knows where were going next? It’s great.”
One of the big back-and-forth arguments that took place prior to the UFC announcing Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez for UFC 205 centered around any injuries for “Notorious.”
Owen Roddy, the head striking coach for the UFC featherweight champion, told Submission Radio recently that McGregor escaped the fight without any serious injury.
“No. No. Nothing really. Conor’s leg is perfectly fine. So yeah, no. As I said, after the Diaz fight, he was back moving around within days,” he said. “So he’s good to go and we have six weeks now. So he’ll be firing on all cylinders from now till the fight.”
McGregor will challenge Alvarez for the lightweight title, giving him the chance to be the first-ever dual UFC champion. Two previous fighters, BJ Penn and Randy Couture, have held belts in multiple weight classes at different times.
“Yeah I do in a sense. No disrespect to Alvarez, he is a great fighter and stuff, but he does move similar to a lot of people that Conor has fought. And even when Conor’s fought strikers, they all become that type of fighter. When Conor lands, you become a panicked wrestler, and that’s what’s going to happen,” he said. “Conor’s very clean, and when it comes to a couple of exchanges, Alvarez is going to feel the difference in accuracy and the difference in power and he will start to wrestle and that’s what they all do. So I mean, Conor’s fought the same type of person all his career. Alvarez is a great wrestler, so there will be things we’ll be working on with Conor to make sure that Alvarez can’t keep a hold of him, can’t keep him against the fence, but Conor’s gonna land and I think it’s going to be a matter of time before Alvarez goes to sleep to be totally honest.”
Roddy also believes that 155 pounds is the right spot for McGregor moving forward, but he isn’t ruling out a title defense at 145 just yet, either.
“For me, this is it. This is where you’re going to see the best Conor McGregor. I was talking to somebody else about this the other day, that fighting at welterweight, it’s hard for Conor to maintain his high output for 25 minutes. He’s not a welterweight. And he did it against one of the toughest fighters in the game, against Diaz, but it’s just that it’s not his weight category. And then when he moved to 145, he does a lot to get the weight off,” he said. “He makes the weight perfect, but I don’t know how much he’s recovering in that 24 hours. I can’t imagine him getting back to one hundred percent in that 24 hours when he fights at 145 – and you see what he does at 145. But at 155, if you look at some of the fights in Cage Warriors, he just looks so good at that weight. That’s the weight he was supposed to be fighting at. And I think you’ll see the fastest, the fittest and the sharpest in regards to his mind, the sharpest McGregor that you will ever see now at lightweight.
“I’m up in the air. I don’t actually know, to be totally honest. You never know. Like I said, Conor controls who he wants to fight and whatnot. The 145 weight category, I mean, I really don’t know. Maybe if Edgar had beat Aldo, then it would have been a more tempting fight. But the fact that he beat Aldo obviously in thirteen seconds, it’s not as tempting to go back down there. But who knows, Conor could just turn around and say, ‘look, I want to go back and do this. I’m gonna go back and sort Aldo out’ – and he will and he could do it. Like, he could definitely make that weight. It is hard, it’s difficult, but he could do it. And the last weight cut against Aldo was the best cut he’s ever had to 145. Like, it was the best that I’ve ever seen him. The comparison between that and the (Chad) Mendes (fight), just the difference, it was just a complete – the Aldo weight cut was perfect and he was in great form for the cut and everything. So he can do it and the last one he’s done was perfect, so he could do it again. But who knows. Who knows what’s around the corner. I never know. That’s what’s so exciting about being part of Conor’s team, you never know what’s next. Like, you really don’t. After the Diaz fight, I was like, we’ll go back down and do Aldo or we might do Diaz again, and then the Alvarez thing popped up and now that’s what we’re doing. Now it’s New York and it’s crazy, it’s exciting and it’s unbelievable. But that’s the road we’re all on with Conor. Like, who knows where were going next? It’s great.”
