Conor McGregor is scheduled to make his long-anticipated return to the Octagon in the main event of UFC 246, where he’ll take on Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. The fight goes down on January 18.
McGregor striking coach Owen Roddy recently appeared on the Eurobash podcast, where he explained what McGregor is doing differently to prepare for his upcoming bout.
“We’re in camp now, so it’s go time,” he said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “The one thing Conor has been constantly doing is working on his strength and conditioning – he’s constantly staying in shape and he’s constantly eating clean – and you can see that straight off the bat. Now it’s time for us to execute a game plan and go in and do it on the night. I’m very excited to be back working with him, and I’m very excited that he’s back fighting in the UFC.”
Roddy went on to compare the differences between the training for McGregor’s upcoming fight with Cerrone, and the training for his last fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov, which he lost by submission. Apparently, there are some crucial differences in the way McGregor is preparing.
“The last camp was just a bit sporadic,” Roddy said of McGregor. “We didn’t know what time we were training at. Sometimes it was very late at night, sometimes it was early in the morning and nobody really knew. Even though we were making all of these sessions, I don’t think that’s good for you when he doesn’t even know what time he’s going to train at, just doing it off feel. For the past couple of months, it’s been very regimented.”
“We’re training at 11 and 7 every day. We’re doing strength and conditioning, whether it’s in the morning or evening, and then doing a technical session and it’s perfect. And you can see that he’s reaping the benefits and rewards already from that. He’s in tip-top shape and now we’re just focusing on the game plan – coming up with a good game plan and going in and executing it.”
Roddy continued, sharing his belief that Conor McGregor is once again doing what he loves.
“I think it’s great seeing Conor back enjoying what he’s doing, that’s the more important thing for me, for everybody and for Conor. You can see it in him – he’s enjoying it. I don’t know, he’s had a crazy couple of years man…I don’t know how he copes…nobody knows how he deals with what he deals with because there is so much…I can only imagine. He has so many businesses; I’m running my own business here and it’s 24/7. He’s got businesses that are worth millions and he’s got so much going, it’s chaotic I’d say.
“Now he’s after sorting everything out and he’s back doing what he loves to do. I think when you start to see some footage of him training, he starts to do his interviews and he starts building the fight, you’re going to see the old Conor back…I can see that already. When people see that, they’re going to say, ‘That’s the Conor we fell in love with.’ He has that hunger again. A hungry, dedicated and motivated Conor McGregor is a scary dude.”
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This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/10/2019.