Conor McGregor is in the latter stages of his preparation for his UFC lightweight title fight with Rafael Dos Anjos on March 5th, and he and his SBG teammates welcomed a very familiar face into their gym last week in Irish boxing great Steve Collins.
The former WBO middleweight and super middleweight champ dropped by to wish McGregor luck as he aims to make history in the UFC, and the pair combined for easily the greatest Irish fighting selfie of all time:
The Fighting Irish, Steve Collins and @TheNotoriousMMA ?? pic.twitter.com/Lnao8L06Wk
— steve collins jnr (@StevieCollinsJR) February 18, 2016
Conor McGregor still has his fair share of haters and detractors in this country, but Collins is certainly not one of them and when asked whether or not the former Crumlin boxing club pupil would be remembered as one of Ireland's best fighters, he explained to Fightland that he thinks McGregor is already the best:
He’ll definitely be remembered as one of the greatest fighters this country has produced, in fact, I already think he’s the greatest fighter Ireland has produced. He’s a savage once he steps in to fight, but he’s a complete gentleman outside of the ring. That’s it. He’s going to be a double weight world champion, without a doubt.
Collins also explained that he's met McGregor multiple times, which is understandable considering McGregor occasionally also trains Steve's brother Paschal's Celtic Warrior Gym, but this time he wanted to get a look at how the UFC superstar's training camp was going, and he was suitably impressed.
When asked what he thinks of the criticism that McGregor faces from some, Collins' laughed it off and suggested that Conor has absolutely no reason to listen to the naysayers:
You only get knockers and begrudgers when you’re successful. When you reach a certain level of success, a lot of people will come out trying to knock you out of jealousy or whatever, and that’s a problem that successful people have to deal with. Conor is very successful and there is some jealousy out there. But why would he listen to them? They’re fools that have accomplished nothing.
That's great to see.
We certainly hope Collins' prediction comes to fruition at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and we're anticipating one hell of a spectacle when Conor McGregor and Rafael Dos Anjos finally meet each other in the Octagon.
