Speaking today just weeks out from what could be the biggest fight ever held in Mixed Martial Arts, Conor McGregor has plans. Big ones. Ones he isn’t shy about telling people. Despite the fact that Irishman is currently in the midst of an attempt to be the first man in UFC history to hold two titles (Featherweight and Lightweight) simultaneously, McGregor made it clear that he has no intentions at stopping at two.
In an interview with SevereMMA, McGregor discussed his intentions of moving up to the 170lbs division, pointing out that many of his training partners are already sufficiently larger than he
“Everyone I’m sparring is well over Welterweight,” McGregor said. “I got Middleweights coming in fresh trying to wear me down, so why not go up? they get slower, they get less free, they’re stiffer, they’re even more stuck than the Lightweight division. I’ll keep going, I’ll keep eating, I’ll keep training. I’ll keep going ‘til all the fucking belts are wrapped up.
“I’m here to win every belt, and then I’m gone.”
McGregor, who previously held 145lbs and 155lbs titles in European promotion Cage Warriors, has long made it clear that he wanted to replicate the same achievement on the sports highest stage, but it’s only of late that the idea of his moving up to Welterweight has gathered traction. Most notably when his coach, John Kavanagh wrote a column suggesting he supported the move.
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When McGregor defeated Jose Aldo for the Featherweight belt, not many believed the UFC would allow him to go for the Lightweight title without first vacating his 145lbs championship. McGregor himself reacted angrily at the idea, and eventually, UFC President Dana White allowed the move.
“That is true that normally I would say if you’re going to move up in weight, you have to give up the belt,” White said on UFC Tonight. “But Conor has done everything he said he would do. He loves to fight. He really likes money, so if anybody could do it, it’s probably him.”
With his apparent planned move to fight Robbie Lawler at UFC 200, McGregor expects there to be no resistance from the UFC. Whether that’s because the UFC says it’s okay, or because McGregor does, is unclear.
“I am picking what I want, and I am doing what I want,” McGregor said. “When you can rack up $400 million dollars in revenue for the company in back to back events, you can do whatever the fuck you want. I’m living the whatever the fuck I want life. That’s the life I live. Whatever I want, whenever I want, and I have earned that through hard work, through sacrifice and that’s it. through victory.”
Such comments may prompt viewers to speculate on the relationship between McGregor and UFC brass. There have long been rumours of friction and a growing rift between the two, made more prominent when Conor makes mention of his ‘McGregor Promotions’. The question has been out there for some time, but McGregor made a point to put any speculation to bed.
“It’s horseshit that is,” said McGregor. “I have a great relationship with [UFC CEO] Lorenzo, and a great relationship with [UFC President] Dana. Don’t get me wrong, I’m climbing that corporate ladder every damn day, and we will be neck and neck, maybe somewhere along the line I will take that lion share, but we will always be together. Loyalty is what I have. They gave me this, they are helping me with this, and I am helping them. We are a team. Much respect to Dana, much respect to Lorenzo, much respect to everyone in the UFC. I’m not trying to break out, I’m just trying to grow.
“I will always be in association with Zuffa, and the great team at the UFC. It’s an honour to grow with this company.”
All this talk, of course, hides the current issue. McGregor has to face and defeat Rafael Dos Anjos, a man who has looked like a destroyer in his last bouts. McGregor is currently the underdog in the eyes of pundits, with Dos Anjos’s general expansive arsenal of weapons suggested to be the deciding factor.
Yet, and as it always is with Conor, no prediction seems to be really bankable until we see him step into the cage. The talks of 170, stadiums in Ireland, they all serve as distractions for everybody… everybody except the Irishman.
For him, it’s simple.
“I’m coming for that belt, I’m coming for the next belt. I’m coming for the whole company.”
