Royce, GSP reflect on Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor’s antics leading up to his fight with UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo have generated a vast amount of attention, not all of positive. In separate interviews UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie and future UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre both expressed reservations about the shenanigans.

“He’s the most talented, the best, the guy right now, but the way he’s talking now he’s fallen in my eyes,” said Royce to Brazil’s Combate, as translated by Lewis Mckeever for BE. “I don’t like it. I lost my respect for him,” Gracie told Combate.

“Aldo is playing the right game, staying quiet. McGregor is taking Muhammad Ali’s model. He can say whatever he wants but he’s got to prove it. If he doesn’t prove it, his career is going to be short. He’s good, but he didn’t really need to talk all that. Aldo is playing the right game and he’ll prove it in the ring. McGregor is just disrespecting. Guys forget sometimes and lose respect—there’s no need for that.”

“McGregor is good, I like the guy, but he’s fallen a lot in my eyes after the media tour. The other guy is an animal, he’s tough, he’s been champion for years, he doesn’t lose because of this, he knows what he’s doing. Conor is new.”

GSP appeared recently on Chael Sonnen’s ‘You’re Welcome’ podcast and basically conceded he doesn’t quite know what to make of “Notorious.”

Conor McGregor, he could be smart or very dumb, said St-Pierre as transcribed by ireland’s The 42. But I think Conor McGregor is very skilled. He can back what he says.

Jose Aldo… he’s a very flamboyant fighter, he’s very dangerous, he has that aura of invincibility around him. He’s like the best pound-for-pound in the world right now, that’s what I believe.

I think Conor McGregor is trying to play that game, trying to get into his head. Maybe it’s going to work, maybe it’s not. We’ll see what’s going to happen.

We will see what is going to happen at UFC 189 on July 11, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.