Conor McGregor has a way with words.
The Irishman has made a career as the UFC’s interim bantamweight champion, but he’s done it with his mental warfare just as much as he has with his fists. And if you’ve never heard McGregor’s trash-talk, just read his prediction for his UFC 194 title fight against Jose Aldo.
“One round,” McGregor told the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay recently. “Four minutes. I’ll KO him.”
McGregor likes that his opponents think he’s all talk, but he’s 18-2 in UFC competition, so he actually has the skills to back it up. Even UFC president Dana White thinks McGregor is doing something special with his self promotion.
“He’s a fascinating character,” White said. “He’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. Not only in calling the rounds in which he will win, but the mental warfare. He’s the best at mental warfare and pushing buttons and getting in your head and winning a big piece of the fight before the fight even happens.”
That confidence is an art form to McGregor. He’s essentially so driven to be the best ever, that he’s already put his mind completely into the idea.
“I’m so lost in it that I can’t imagine anything else,” he told the Journal. “Like Vincent Van Gogh. He lost his mind in his game. I have lost my mind also. But I am happy with that. I feel to reach the high pinnacle in anything you do, you must almost become insane to what you are doing.”
Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images
