Conor McGregor had plenty to say about his UFC rivals...
Cerrone, Dos Anjos & Aldo on the radar!
By James Dielhenn
Last Updated: 05/09/15 7:35am
Conor McGregor stole the show by threatening past, present and future opponents at a UFC gathering appropriately entitled 'Go Big'.
The Irishman sounded off about his fame and fortune at a Las Vegas press conference featuring 18 other fighters of which he had already fought three, is scheduled to face another and apparently plans to fight many more.
Sky Sports have picked out a selection of his remarks...
Chad Mendes
McGregor most recently KO'd Mendes, who stepped in for the injured Jose Aldo, to capture the interim featherweight title...
McGregor said: You called yourself the Mike Tyson of the featherweight division so I marched forwards, stood in the pocket and said 'what have you got?' You hit like a strawweight.
I gave you half a million, you went from $48,000 so thank me and be grateful.
You called yourself the Mike Tyson of the featherweight division so I marched forwards, stood in the pocket and said 'what have you got?' You hit like a strawweight.
McGregor to Mendes
Dustin Poirier & Joe Duffy
Poirier, ranked No 6 at the time, was McGregor's first high-profile casualty a year ago. Poirier next fights Duffy who happens to be the last man to beat McGregor...
McGregor said: The appeal of the fight is to climb back up and fight me again, the 'money' fight.
[Duffy] is another spin-off from my name. You're welcome. 100 percent [I'd like to avenge my loss] if the money is right.
This is a great opportunity for both men to climb back into the lottery ticket. It's good business because you've got to build up others to fight me.
Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone
Cerrone is the next challenger to the lightweight championship but McGregor fancies stepping up a division...
McGregor said: You're too slow and too stiff. You're as stiff as a board and I'd snap you in half. I see stiffness when I look in the 155-pound division. They're stuck in the mud.
The featherweights hit like flyweights so it's nice down there, destroying them and killing that division, but I have my eye on 155.
Rafael dos Anjos
The Brazilian is defending his 155-pound belt against Cerrone but McGregor believes the champion would drop a weight class due to the merit of fighting the Irish star.
McGregor said: Ask yourself truthfully. If [UFC president Dana White] rang you and said 'you don't have to fight Cerrone, you can fight McGregor', would you take it?
I can change your life, I'll make you rich. You fight me, it's a celebration. You'll ring your wife back home - 'baby, we've done it! We're rich! McGregor made us rich!'
You would take the fight, just like anybody else would take the fight against me if it were offered. I'm the money fight in all weight divisions.
Jose Aldo
Finally, McGregor took aim at upcoming opponent Aldo who withdrew injured from their original fight. This is what he said before a heated face-off...
McGregor said: Wow, I didn't think I'd see you again! I was happy to see him – I shook his hand, I embraced him, I gave him a little cuddle and told him 'everything is going to be OK, it will be over before you know it'.
I don't want to go scare him. He went running before, so now I will take the opposite approach. It will be over quickly, I will end his career.
The end of 2015 will see the end of the featherweight division – they are all dead in the water, it's done – if the Brazilian shows up.
McGregor on Aldo
The end of 2015 will see the end of the featherweight division – they are all dead in the water, it's done – if the Brazilian shows up.
Who knows if he will. He is petrified. He's the so-called pound-for-pound No 1 but he's quaking in his boots.
He's not going to be there on December 12 like he wasn't there on July 11 so I'll tell everyone from 145 to 170 pounds to prepare for a fight – it's the opportunity of a lifetime.
People say I talk and I talk but guess what? I back it up.
