Tag: The Notorious

Video: Conor McGregor continues to progress his skillset in grappling

conor mcgregorIt’s been some time since we last saw former two-division Cage Warriors and UFC champion Conor McGregor compete inside the octagon, a whole 16 months in fact, where he lost his second consecutive bout against former interim champion Dustin Poirier in 2021. Following his knockout defeat to Poirier earlier that year in January, they were […]

conor mcgregor

It’s been some time since we last saw former two-division Cage Warriors and UFC champion Conor McGregor compete inside the octagon, a whole 16 months in fact, where he lost his second consecutive bout against former interim champion Dustin Poirier in 2021.

Following his knockout defeat to Poirier earlier that year in January, they were now 1-1 against one another, and it needed to be settled. McGregor TKO’d Poirier in the opening round of their first fight back at UFC 178 in September of 2014 prior to their rematch at UFC 257.

McGregor got injured in their trilogy bout, breaking his leg toward the end of the first round, resulting in another TKO defeat.

Luckily for McGregor and his fans however, in recent months, he’s finally been able to train to the fullest of his capabilities without restrictions.

Though McGregor isn’t expected to compete again until the first, or potentially the second quarter of 2023, that hasn’t stopped him from regularly posting videos of himself training.

We all know McGregor to be one of, if not the slickest and most dangerous striker in the sport of MMA, 19 of his 22 career victories coming via knockout. However, he’s been working on his wrestling and grappling lately, as his most recent video footage shows.

McGregor wrote the following in the videos caption: “Shit hot everywhere. The real goat. There’s not a place I’m not great. Some of your goats can’t even kick. Watch my wrist work here. At some points you see my opponent has the illusion of the control of my wrist but I use this silliness to open doors with it. I open the door to go right into full mount.

“Then later I open the door right to the rib cage for my knee to land flush. It’s using the opponents control of your wrist as a lever. Watch and see can you see. Leave a comment and tag your pal, the Mac is back, with another lesson on defend and attack.”

Aside from his pair of back-to-back defeats to Dustin Poirier in his last two outings, McGregor had only lost four times, all four via submission, one of which was later avenged.

If he can keep opponents from taking him down, he’s going to be a very tough man to beat once again.

Does ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor return to form next year in 2023?

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Anderson Silva: Conor McGregor Is The Best One In This Sport

Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA recently interviewed one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighters the sport has ever seen, former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. They got onto the topic of ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor, Okamoto asked,’last question about Conor, what would’ve happened if you guys had fought? What do you think would’ve happened?’ […]

Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA recently interviewed one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighters the sport has ever seen, former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.

They got onto the topic of ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor, Okamoto asked,’last question about Conor, what would’ve happened if you guys had fought? What do you think would’ve happened?’

‘The Spider’ replied: “Wow, that’s very interesting, you know. It’s two big strikers, and I think for me, is a good challenge (for) myself. And challenge every single martial arts technique I’ve trained my entire life. You know, because Conor is a very athletic, is a very technique (technical), and he’s a good striker.

“And in my mind, it’s just you know, everybody fight with Conor and don’t realize that Conor is the best one in this sport. And (they) try to doing something better than Conor, but this is not happen because Conor is so smart, you know? Conor have the different time for everybody inside the cage.

“You know, especially when you fight for strikers, you know? Of course, when you see the fight, Conor with Khabib, it’s completely different. Khabib is the beast, you know? But when you’re talking about strikers, this is a good fight for fans.”

This would have been such a fun fight to see. Though Silva is far past his prime years, he is a great deal bigger than McGregor, that’d even things up a bit. Not to mention, he’s a 3rd-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under the Nogueira brothers.

Silva also has a 5th-degree black belt in Taekwondo, and a black prajied (belt) in Muay Thai. And he’s right, McGregor is the best, or at least one of the select few best strikers in the sport. They both are, they’ve both finished so many of their opponents with strikes.

It’s a little surprising to see Silva put ‘The Notorious’ above himself, given how talented Silva’s striking was at his peak, but he has always been humble and never owned up to being the best in the world, even through his 16-0 UFC run and ten title defenses.

That run also included fourteen finishes and three trips up to light-heavyweight, all three of which ended via first round knockout.

One of which was against former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin, who’d just lost the belt to Rashad Evans in his fight prior. If Silva moved up just a tad sooner, he could have been the first simultaneous double champ in UFC history, not McGregor.

Of McGregor’s 22 wins, 19 come via knockout; while of Silva’s 34 wins, 22 come via knockout. Those are some seriously impressive ratios.

It’s too bad we likely won’t ever see this fight. Though it doesn’t make the most sense, it’d be a great display of martial arts from two absolute legends.

Silva will be having his final fight on Halloween at UFC Fight Night 182 against Uriah Hall, and this is just as good of a match up.

People were saying Hall was ready to fight Silva while he was still on The Ultimate Fighter, while Silva was still the UFC Middleweight Champion. There was a lot of hype around Hall, and this fight.

Hall however couldn’t live up to the hype. He was 7-2 when he came to the UFC off the New Jersey regional scene, and went 4-0 with three brutal knockouts on the show. However, he lost his first two fights in the UFC, and has gone 8-5 since, bringing his UFC record to 8-7.

Hall gets mentally fatigued, he’s been shown to fold under pressure. He is on a two fight win streak though, he has a 2nd-degree black belt in Kyokushin Karate, and he’s as athletic and dangerous as they come.

He has shown us he can beat anyone on any given night, as he finished top middleweight Gegard Mousasi in round two of their first fight. Hall is an incredibly skilled talent that just hasn’t been able to really put it all together consistently in the UFC.

Now that Silva’s at the tale end of his career, this is the perfect fight to make at the time it will be at its most competitive.

Do you agree with Silva’s claim of McGregor being the best in the sport?

Conor McGregor Hints At Potential Return To The Octagon

‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor is the most beloved, hated, and universally watched and known mixed martial arts fighter in the entire world, but he’s left many of us wanting more. Today, he posted this on his Instagram, perhaps hinting at ending his retirement. “4 years ago today! Backstage waiting to go out for one of […]

‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor is the most beloved, hated, and universally watched and known mixed martial arts fighter in the entire world, but he’s left many of us wanting more. Today, he posted this on his Instagram, perhaps hinting at ending his retirement.

“4 years ago today! Backstage waiting to go out for one of the biggest bouts of my fighting life! McGregor/Diaz II. Wow! Maybe there is more…”

It would be absolutely amazing to see ‘The Notorious’ return to the octagon. He’s one of the most accomplished and most entertaining fighters we’ve ever had, but his motivation hasn’t kept up with him.

This is probably because of his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in 2017, where he made upwards of $100,000,000 after it was all said and done.

When you have that much money, it is hard to wake up and want to drain your lungs and get physically attacked every day. He started fighting because it’s what he loved to do, but also to support himself and longtime girlfriend Dee Devlin, as well as their kids at this point.

Now that he doesn’t have to do that, now that he’s got all the money in the world, he’s had time to venture off into other hobbies and occupations. His whiskey is a big one, Proper No. 12, but he also has a clothing line now. He’s quite busy outside of the fighting world.

At one point, he was on welfare as the Cage Warriors Featherweight and Lightweight Champion. Then he made his UFC debut and was awarded the $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, and he was able to give that check up.

He went on to mirror that success in the UFC, first winning the interim UFC Featherweight Championship against Chad Mendes, then the undisputed UFC Featherweight Championship against Jose Aldo, before winning the undisputed UFC Lightweight Championship against Eddie Alvarez to become the first champ-champ ever.

Others had tried before him, such as BJ Penn and Randy Couture, and both of them won belts in two weight classes in the UFC, but not at the same time.

McGregor was the most active fighter in the UFC at this point, but he didn’t have another mixed martial arts fight until two years later, when he fought Khabib Nurmagomedov.

He then spent another fifteen-and-a-half months outside the cage before facing Donald Cerrone.

McGregor stated leading up to his fight with Cerrone that he was looking at 2020 like a season, and that he’d like to have two more fights within the years end after his fight with Cerrone.

He looked better than ever in his return, which is crazy because there’s a few times he’s looked better than ever and impressed us all. He won the fight via TKO in just 40 seconds, landing 20 of just 27 total strikes.

However, it seems like the Covid-19 pandemic made him lose his interest again, and he retired after knowing he wasn’t going to be scheduled any time soon. The UFC doesn’t want to miss out on a Conor McGregor gate, and while it’s hard to blame them, his career shouldn’t just be paused considering.

It’s unfortunate, because McGregor is already somewhat of a wasted talent, and he has the potential to go down as the best to ever do it.

From ages 28 to 32, where he is now, McGregor’s spent three of those years outside of fighting in MMA. The exact years where almost all athletes are at their physical peaks. That being said, he’s a truly special individual, and he could still have a great future in the sport if he can stay motivated.

It appears he’s got that itch back after looking back on his career, remembering a fight he had four years ago to this day. It’d be great to see him come back and have a dozen more fights, we can only hope.

Should Conor McGregor return, who would you like to see him fight?

Quote: Conor McGregor ‘Will Fight Again’

According to MMAfighting.com‘s Ariel Helwani, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s recent retirement via social media may only be temporary. Helwani tweeted early Wednesday morning that the Irish star may not have seen his last appearance in the Octagon just yet. Lots of theories/motives/timelines being thrown out re: McGregor. I suspect the absolute truth will only

The post Quote: Conor McGregor ‘Will Fight Again’ appeared first on LowKick MMA.

According to MMAfighting.com‘s Ariel Helwani, UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s recent retirement via social media may only be temporary.

Helwani tweeted early Wednesday morning that the Irish star may not have seen his last appearance in the Octagon just yet.