Has Conor turned the corner as far as life is concerned? Has becoming a father and accomplishing more than he had ever hoped to do finally calmed him down?
We are accustomed to McGregor lashing out at whoever his next opponent is online and in person to the point where every single fight that he has seems as though it is going to be a war. He makes it seem as though he genuinely hates who he is up against.
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His return to the octagon after breaking his leg in horrendous fashion 2 years ago will happen at the end of June vs. Michael Chandler and at least up to now, McGregor hasn't been badmouthing MC at all. In a recent interview he had nothing negative to say about Chandler and instead said this:
"It’s a blank face and a specific body type. He has his set movements, his set patterns he moves in, and his set shots. I’m aware of them, and I’m preparing for a multitude of outcomes. I’m as ready as I can be, and I’m confident all my shots will land.”
While the "all my shots will land" is concerned let's not get ahead of ourselves. Even the best fighters miss a majority of their shots. I suppose the one exception would be his own fight against Jose Aldo where he only threw one punch and it landed and ended the fight.
Conor is suggesting that his previous anger going into fights doesn't serve any purpose anymore and this change is something that I personally am happy to see. A lot of Conor's bad-mouthing of his upcoming opponents seemed very staged at times, especially when once the fight was over, more often than not he was smiling and hugging whoever he was up against.
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Now this could all be because Conor's usual tactic of really getting the crowd worked up with his words of domination of his opponents has backfired badly in a number of fights and all that talk kind of goes out the window when you can no longer, to use Conor's own words "back... it.... up..."
So what do you think about this about-face in Conor's attitude? I really like it but also don't think that he will be able to stick with it. I think he is too much of a hothead. I also recognize that he badly needs a win here to remain relevant in the UFC. Sure, he will always draw big crowds even if he does go on a losing skid, but I also think he is one of the only fighters on the UFC roster that can tell Dana White and the other top brass to get lost if they try to tell him how he needs to behave before the fight. Conor doesn't actually need the money. He is one of the rarities in the sport.
Will he keep his cool? We have a bit over a month before UFC 303 so a lot can change in that time. They will no doubt be doing a lot of press conferences and it will only take a few arrogant statements from Chandler to change that tune. Time will tell!