Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, is having a rough year. Not only did he come up short against Khabib Nurmagomedov a few months back, which cost him the chance to recapture his 155-pound crown, “Notorious” also got arrested for his technical knockout win over a fan’s mobile phone.
What can the power-punching Irishman learn from these experiences? For that, we must go to one of the greatest boxers who ever lived. A pugilist so legendary, they made five movies to honor his in-ring accomplishments, then another two to celebrate the career of his best friend’s son. Talk about influence!
“I think he should get inspired by all this,” actor Sylvester Stallone told TMZ Sports. “Like he says ‘Okay, I’ve been going through a very rough time, I’ve been somewhat publicly humiliated, and I’m at a crossroads in my life, I have to prove something, overcome my fear, overcome my incredible opponent who seems invulnerable, Khabib.’ So this is a crossroads in his life, probably the most important one. If he doesn’t live up to his ideal, if he can’t overcome his fear and beat this man, it will plague him for the rest of this life.”
Stallone knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity. He had the courage and tenacity to write himself a defeat in the script for Rocky 3, then provided himself more hardships in his follow-up effort in Rocky IV. I know what you’re thinking, “Those are just movies.” Well, he also made “Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot!” with Estelle Getty and still bounced back to write and direct Judge Dredd The Expendables.
“I think he lost last time because he got resentful, he got prideful, he got arrogant,” Stallone said. “He walked right up to that gentleman and he just got smashed in the face when he could have been defensive. There was no Plan B. Not even a Plan A-minus.”
McGregor has been angling for another crack at Khabib Nurmagomedov after “The Eagle” tapped him out at UFC 229. Since the champion is sidelined until November (because of this), it sounds like “Notorious” will have to take a fight in the interim, perhaps as early as July, based on these reports.