Originally published on August 13th, 2016, South African boxer Chris van Heerden's comments have become relevant once again as Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather have confirmed that the fight will be taking place this summer.
When Conor McGregor's previously ironclad 'there is no opponent' mantra was exposed by Nate Diaz as containing more than a couple of blind spots, both McGregor and his coach John Kavanagh moved quickly to address the issue.
In March 2016, McGregor's UFC lightweight title shot against southpaw champion Rafael Dos Anjos was eventually commuted to a short notice welterweight bout against Nate Diaz, also a southpaw, and despite both of these fighters (and McGregor himself) being lefties, not one of the Dubliner's training partners was a natural left-handed fighter.
That had to change.
Whereas previous McGregor training camps focused solely on improving his own skills and not worrying about what the opponent may or may not do, this time around McGregor faces an opponent who he already holds a great deal of data on - and he is using this information wisely.
Conor Wallace, the amateur boxer from Newry who shares a number of physical traits with Diaz, is currently in Las Vegas helping McGregor prepare for next Saturday's fight and in recent weeks the Irishman also spent time in the ring with South African pro boxer Chris van Heerden.
Van Heerden, who has worked with the likes of Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez in the past, joined John Balfe and Mikey Traynor joined on the first episode of the Balls.ie MMA Podcast and told us his impressions of McGregor's stand-up game and what improvements he has made for the main event of UFC 202.
I was pretty impressed, it has to be said. Conor can hold his own. I didn't know that Conor had an amateur boxing background in Ireland. I could immediately see that Conor has some boxing skill inside of him. Conor showed that he needs work in the boxing because of the MMA background. The main thing I would say is his balance and his footwook wasn't up to date. It was pretty good, but it needed work. Like I said, I was impressed over the first day that he could hold his own.
The first fight between McGregor and Diaz at UFC 196 asked more questions than it provided answers. We saw that McGregor was able to connect with his power left shot but, crucially, also saw that Diaz is able to take it. Van Heerden maintains that the Irishman seems to have made the necessary adjustments in his style to overcome the gritty Californian fighter.
He's going to beat Nate. Conor knows where he made his mistakes. I spoke to him and I could see the confidence inside of him. He told me straight, 'Chris, I am confident 110%. I will beat Nate. I know where I made a mistake.' He is doing everything right this time. Conor has got a good counter straight left. If you're not going to be quick enough to get out of the way, he is going to catch you. His counter-punching is very good, which I enjoyed because not everyone can do it.
And where does van Heerden think the second fight will be won or lost? He predicts it will be a stand-up affair once more but is sure that, this time around, the fight will look entirely different.
I feel that Conor had the upper hand but as the fight progressed the weight difference and the power of the bigger man was starting to drain Conor McGregor - that is what cost him eventually. He didn't have anything left to continue and Nate's power and size took over. I felt Conor was leading and I felt that Conor was the better man. In the second fight, in the rematch, Conor will know where he made his mistakes. He's comfortable where he's at now and I think we might just see a whole different fight.
