UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson admitted to being a big fan of Conor McGregor in an appearance on the MMA Hour yesterday. Mighty Mouse revealed McGregor's confident demeanour and brash way of talking about his opponents reminded him of two of the best trash talkers in the history of boxing, and sport in general.
I really, truly appreciate Conor McGregor's style. His fighting style and the way he talks. The reason why is because he reminds me of a young Mike Tyson, a young Muhammad Ali, the way he talks.
Like, I look at him and I don't see him talking trash. I look at him and I see him talking (about) what he sees, where he's like: ‘dude, I'm way faster, I move way better than you do, you're slow, I'm going to hit you hard' - which, I believe all these things that he says are true.
Johnson will put his flyweight belt on the line when he takes on Chris Cariaso in the main event at UFC 178 on Saturday. The card also features a grudge match between The Notorious and #5 ranked featherweight Dustin "The Diamond" Poirier. Johnson affirmed that Poirier will be the toughest test of the Dubliner's career and he is unsure how a potential loss could impact on his UFC career.
I believe that his fighting style is good, he understands fighting, and not taking anything away from Dustin Poirier. Dustin Poirier is a huge test. I can appreciate somebody who can talk that stuff and he'll go in there and he'll back it up.
The curious thing will be like, what if he loses? They have so much hype behind Conor McGregor. If he loses then, you know, they'll look around like, ‘Well, we had a good run, Conor. Let's see what you got to say again.'
McGregor divulged his vision of winning the UFC belt before the end of 2014 during a press conference at UFC Dublin in July. Johnson confessed that this vision might come true if McGregor defeats Poirier in Las Vegas. He claims that The Notorious is already on the cusp of a title shot, despite having only three fights in the promotion under his belt.
So I'm more intrigued by that fight because I think that fight has more stakes going into it, because it's like, one, I'm pretty sure if Conor wins it, then he can be fighting ‘old man Swanson,' as he called him, Cub Swanson next. And then, who knows, he could be fighting Chad Mendes or Jose Aldo for the title after those two fight. We'll see.
UFC 178 main card kicks off this Saturday at 3am Irish time. McGregor vs Poirier is third on the bill below the main event of Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso and a co-main between #5 ranked lightweight Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez.
Hat tip: MMA Fighting
