Conor McGregor cut a much calmer figure in his Mac Life interview with MMA journalist Andrew McGahern, which was released yesterday. During the course the 13 minutes, the Notorious covered his return to the octagon, his feelings about his media obligations as well as potential upcoming opponents.
Another topic covered in the discussion was the subject of the weight cutting, and it was an issue that McGregor clearly feels strongly about, with the fighter admitting that weigh cuts and media obligations are two things would make him walk away from the game:
The weight cuts are ruthless. I've gone through every single one of them throughout the years. I've never released footage (of my weight cut) I seen (Darren) Till released some footage and it was an eye opener for people.
This is the game we are in, it's a horrible, horrible part of the business and if I could correct or come in and help a situation like that I would like to come in and spearhead many more divisions in the game so we can figure this whole situation out because it's not correct. You don't see it happen in other sports where there's weigh-ins involved. It shouldn't be like this in this game.
The UFC has had numerous high profile fighters pull out due to weight cut issues including the likes of Max Holloway, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Yoel Romero and in his interview McGregor cited boxing as an example of a sport that tackled weight in the right fashion and believes there is scope for the UFC to create more weight classes:
We should be on top of the weight cut game. There should be many more weights to choose from. 155 to 170 is a 15 pound gap, like even ten pounds is... boxing's what, Every three pounds or something there's a fucking new division.
There's definitely space for more divisions and something needs to be done where we can keep an eye on the way people are cutting weight and manage it and make the sport more enjoyable for the athletes actually competing.
The Dubliner went onto say that there would be better fights if the weight cut issue was addressed and if fighters can approach a bout 'full of energy and correctly prepared'. It was striking to see McGregor concerned for the wellbeing of the same fighters he so often insults, but with his guard down it's easy to see that the lightweight has genuine concern for his sport.
