In this case, “this” is UFC 202 on August 20, where the McGregor-Diaz rematch serves as the main event.
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The Irish star is known for making pre-fight predictions, several of which he’s made good on. “I’m still going to bust him but there’s going to be a lot more in the tank and I’m going to be a lot more prepared for a man that can stay in there with me”.
“But I don’t dwell on that”.
After winning the featherweight championship late past year, McGregor was initially booked to a lightweight championship fight against then-champion Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196. This one means more than any amount of money or gold combined. I gave no respect to that.
In an interview with the UFC’s Megan Olivi, he said: “So when it first got booked I was like, ‘They want to get me right back in there and try to win this back and weed me out again'”. “I just let that go”.
For the first match against Diaz, McGregor said he was going to knock out his opponent in the first round.
“I’ve created a media empire”.
“When it was time to get mine, I was going to get what I was going to get regardless, and I had a plan to do it”.
McGregor says he even turned down a seven-figure role in the upcoming Vin Diesel project “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage” so he could prepare for the Diaz rematch.
In another interesting series of quotes from his media conference, McGregor also took the opportunity to shoot down rumors that he may be interested in joining WWE. I need to go focus and do what got me here in the first place, so I disengaged from the film altogether.
“Maybe not straight away, but most certainly this will be a trilogy fight”. White Buffalo’s “I Know You” lends this an epic quality, as this fight actually feels way bigger than the UFC 196 fight where Diaz choked McGregor out. There have also been rumors that he would eventually show up at a future WrestleMania much like fellow UFC star Ronda Rousey did past year, but his comments about the “sports-entertainment” industry suggest otherwise.
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On Saturday, Jericho was asked about McGregor’s comments on Twitter, and he responded by saying that he’s never heard of the current featherweight champion.
