Conor McGregor: Floyd Mayweather Already a ‘Beaten, Broken’ Man
Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather had their final pre-fight news conference on Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s anticipated boxing match, and “The Notorious” had some major takeaways.
At the conclusion of the festivities, the pair had their fifth face-off, with McGregor striking a stance at the end he referred to as “Bruce Lee shit.” The stare down can be a crucial element in mental warfare in the lead-up to the fight, and McGregor has some strong thoughts about what he saw in Mayweather’s eyes.
“I see a broken man,” McGregor tells Rolling Stone. “He’s beaten. He will not take the ferociousness that I come with. I’m a true martial artist. I can adapt to any situation.”
McGregor meets Mayweather in a 12-round, 154-pound bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The event airs on pay-per-view for a high definition price tag of $99.95. The fight is one of the most anticipated in combat sports history, mainly because of the unpredictable nature of it all.
Mayweather is one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport. His incredible, 49-fight winning streak over the course of a more than 20-year undefeated career is unprecedented, and from all known logic that should lead him to a clear-cut victory over McGregor, who has never had a professional boxing match.
The brash Irishman is a living x-factor who can’t be written off, though. McGregor has frequently surpassed expectations and achieved what many others haven’t in his career, but that comes in the world of MMA.
The UFC Lightweight champion has carried the same confidence into the fight with Mayweather that has brought him to great heights in the UFC, and he said Mayweather made a horrible misstep by pursuing a fight against him.
“I am a multiple-time, multiple-weight, free-fighting world champion,” he says. “I am skilled in combat, a lot more than him. There should be respect. They should have left me where I was. I was good on my game. They shouldn’t have brought this animal over. They made a grave error. All I can do is capitalize and make it my own.”
McGregor has predicted a knockout of Mayweather anywhere from the first minute of the opening round to somewhere inside Round 4. He says his victory will turn the combat sports world “on its head,” and he believes the crossover match is going to set up a new era in the world of pro fighting.
He’s happy to lead the charge.
“I think criss-cross will happen a lot,” he says. “I think it will happen all over the place. More power to it. Let’s continue. The fight game just got a hell of a lot more interesting.”