He might be just a few days out from the biggest fight of his life but even Conor McGregor has found himself under the spell of the O'Donovan brothers.
Speaking to the media in Las Vegas last night, McGregor was in vintage form -- and nothing, or no one, was safe from his verbal barbs.
'The Notorious' amplified his remarks on pro-wrestling which caused such a storm earlier in the week, singling out the likes of John Cena as "walking around in a luminous orange t-shirt and a headband talking about nobody can see him. We can see him right there. He's a big fat, 40-year-old failed Mr. Olympia motherfucker."
McGregor was also asked for his thoughts on the Irish Olympic efforts in Rio and he had some strong words for boxer Michael O'Reilly, who failed a drug test prior to his first bout.
He said:
There has been a couple of issues in the boxing. One of the competitors was caught on performance enhancing drugs and actually the guy that lost out to that guy is here with me, he's the number two. Well really he's the number one, he's clean, he's here. He's a southpaw, Conor Wallace. Tall, strong, sharp kid. He has been helping me prepare for this.
That was an incident I think that might have hampered the spirit of the Irish team but we've been doing well, we've got a couple of wins. The competition is young, we have Michael Conlan now competing on Sunday and I am holding out hope that our Olympic boxers will bring back medals.
And then we've got those two rower guys from Cork and they've been hilarious. They won a silver medal the other day. It's great to watch the Irish people out in Rio.
The UFC featherweight champion commiserated with Paddy Barnes, who was eliminated from his weight category in the opening fight, and suggested that a lack of proper preparation by the Irish Olympic Boxing team could have been to blame for some of the performances.
I've been in Rio myself many times and what I was thinking when them fights were taking place, Paddy Barnes, he's a two-time Olympian, two time medalist, and he was defeated in the opening round. He was talking about his weight and he felt fatigued in there and I was thinking in my head, 'they went out too late.'
Brazil is an intense climate. Why do you think I'm [in Las Vegas] eight weeks prior? This is desert air out here; it's completely different. You go from beautiful Ireland into these type of environments, it affects your preparation, it affects your breathing, your performance. I think that is an issue that, maybe, they left it too late.
You can watch the 35 minute long McGregor opus at the link below and, trust us, it makes for very entertaining viewing.
