While Floyd Mayweather is arguably the most defensively skilled boxer of this generation, ahead of his fight on August 26th however, many are questioning whether Mayweather has fought someone with the power of Conor McGregor.

According to McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy, the UFC lightweight champion hits with the power of a middleweight, which explains why 18 of McGregor’s 21 professional wins have come by way of knockout throughout the course of his professional MMA career.

Ahead of Conor McGregor‘s highly anticipated fight with Floyd Mayweather at the T-Mobile arena, many have predicted that McGregor’s best shot at winning the fight is to catch Mayweather with a big blow early on in the fight. As it turns out, Mayweather’s coach Nate Jones admitted to Submission Radio that McGregor’s power is certainly a point of concern for him going into the fight:

“Well, I’m a say this much, first of all, he’s wiry, he’s a little bit longer than Floyd and I think that he has tremendous punching power. And when someone carries that and is wiry and he’s game, he’s nutsy, he will pull anything off, he will try anything. And them are the type of guys you gotta worry about. This is not a walk in the park for Floyd. We not gonna take our eye off this one. We’re gonna train like we’re fighting Mike Tyson or (Manny) Pacquiao, you know what I’m saying? Or (Canelo) Alvarez or someone like that. We’re going to work hard because any given time, anybody can hit you with a shot and he’s got tremendous punching power in his MMA fights. He can really, really punch. Anybody can get hit. You know, Floyd’s gotta stay on top of his game. We can’t get hit with a shot that’s gonna hurt him. Don’t think it ain’t possible that Floyd can’t get with a shot and then get hurt. And that’s one thing we’re gonna prepare for, that’s one thing we’re gonna be ready for. We gotta be ready for the unexpected. Anything can happen that night.”

“We’re gonna train hard like we’re fighting Mike Tyson. And one thing we’re gonna be aware of is his punching power. The only thing McGregor – I don’t think McGregor has the skills to outbox Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match, I think McGregor has enough punching power to land a couple of good shots on Floyd and hurt Floyd. And that’s one thing that I’m gonna be concerned with Floyd.”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/23/2017.