Conor McGregor happy with deal coming into UFC 329: ‘They honored me, finally’

· Yahoo Sports

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 12: Mixed Martial Artist Conor McGregor acknowledges the fans prior to the Heavyweight fight between Derek Chisora and Gerald Washington at The O2 Arena on August 12, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Conor McGregor is set to return to the Octagon on July 11th for UFC 329, and he’ll be doing it with a financial deal that makes him very happy.

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That’s a key component of this comeback. After the UFC switched from pay-per-view in the United States to free on Paramount+, McGregor’s deal needed to be renegotiated because he made his tens of millions off PPV cut. It was a big question as to whether the UFC could reach an agreement with McGregor given their tight fisted financial ways, but to their credit they did it, and now McGregor will rematch Max Holloway for International Fight Week.

In a new interview with Mac Energy (McGregor’s new energy drink) Conor shared his mindset coming into the fight.

“The big fight is coming, let’s cheers to that,” McGregor declared. “The Mac is back, baby. Let’s go. It’s like a musical. Music to my ears, it is. I’m out so long, five years. My body’s fresh, my mind is sharp. I’m ready to come back. I’ve got a great opponent. I’ve got a great deal off the UFC. I’m very, very happy. They honored me, finally.”

‘Honored’ is a big word. If McGregor is feeling honored, maybe we should expect to see him on the Forbes Highest Paid Athletes list next year. It’s been a while, but no one makes money in the UFC like the Mac.

“So, July 11, the opponent is a man I’ve beaten before in Max Holloway,” McGregor said of his upcoming fight. “He is an established fighter, an accomplished fighter, a former UFC world champion, multiple time, so this is a quality opponent. Our last bout (in 2013) was martial arts mastery by your truly, so I plan on doing it again. I plan on showing my growth and my improvements in them. I’m very, very excited for it.”

“Preparations are going very well. We’re living, breathing, and sleeping in the gym. Literally, I live in the gym. I have a base here, and I have a base in my coach John [Kavanagh]’s gym, and I go between them both, and training’s going very, very well.”

McGregor isn’t just preparing for a good night in the cage. He’s prepared for the absolute worst to happen.

“Now as I become a lot more experienced in the game, I actually work backwards towards the perfect scenario,” he said. “So I have had a limb break inside the Octagon. So now I must have an answer to that. So, I begin, I have the perfect scenario: You knock them out with a big backhand, the crowd roars. But then I have the worst case scenario.”

“The shoulder dislocates midway through the first round. What’s my mechanisms? The lead shoulder dislocates in the first round. What’s my movements? What’s my reactions? Do I switch the stance? Do I go to my back? I have a whole selection of responses to the worst case scenarios. Not that I sit and dwell on them or overthink them, but I just have them … Focus, focus, focus. Prepare, prepare, prepare for the best case scenario. And that that’s kind of where I’m at right now. So I have every situation that may occur and and my answers to it.”

McGregor will need some good answers to the kind of worst case scenarios Max Holloway can throw at him. While McGregor won a one-sided contest in their 2013 fight, the Max of today is an absolute beast, and McGregor hasn’t fought for five hard partying years. We’ll see how it turns out on July 11th … McGregor will need to be in absolute top form if he wants to leave Las Vegas with a win.

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