There's the Conor McGregor in America doing what he has to do to sell the fights and then there's the Conor McGregor in Ireland letting it all flow out naturally. We wouldn't go as far as saying that the 'press conference McGregor' is all for show but when you see him in interviews like this, it's certainly easy to see a difference in the personas.
Ahead of his Dublin departure this week, McGregor was getting in his last couple of SBG sessions and he spoke to the ever excellent Andrew McGahon and SevereMMA about the upcoming title fight against Rafael dos Anjos, the possibility of a move to welterweight and, perhaps most interestingly, the rumours of a move away from the UFC in the not too distant future.
On those increasingly incessant suggestions that he'll be gunning for Robbie Lawler and the welterweight title at UFC 200, McGregor has given the greatest indication yet that rather than moving back down to featherweight, an immediate jump to 170lb is a distinct possibility.
Everyone I'm sparring is well over welterweight. I've got middleweights coming in fresh to try to wear me down. So why not go up?
They get slower and they get even less free up there. They're stiffer. They're even more stuck than the lightweight division. I'll keep going, keep eating, keep training. I'll keep going until fucking all the belts are wrapped up.
But he didn't just leave it at that, hitting at at the manner in which he feels MMA has stagnated with fighters afraid to go outside their comfort zone.
How many times have you seen a champion instantly go up? How many years have you heard about super-fights and nothing? How many times have you heard about a little sore toe? There's pussies everywhere in this game.
I'm here to fight. I'm here to win every belt and then I'm gone. I'll see the game later. I'll walk away from this game, I'll set it ablaze and walk away.
You can watch it below and after all that, it must be said, fair play to McGahon and SevereMMA for a genuinely great interview.
