Sonnen: McGregor conditioning issue is a ‘false narrative’
Chael Sonnen: “I just don’t know that that was an accurate assessment, meaning that Conor was in poor shape, or if you should also look at the intangibles.”
Bellator’s Chael Sonnen has a reputation for trash talking that rivals Muhammad Ali’s, but the mad mouth running is just a manifestation of one of the best minds in MMA. On a recent Beyond the Fight podcast, The Gangster from Oregon turned his mind to what may be the biggest fight in the sport’s history, UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor.
Many fans believe McGregor’s potentially fatal flaw is his cardio, which the fighter himself cited as a factor in the losses to Nate Diaz and Floyd Mayweather Jr. However, Sonnen says that’s not so.
There’s a narrative out there about his conditioning, and that largely came because of his fight with Nate Diaz where Conor said ‘I ran out of energy.’ He said that, said Sonnen, as transcribed by Milan Ordoñez for BE. I just don’t know that that was an accurate assessment, meaning that Conor was in poor shape, or if you should also look at the intangibles of which, one, he was surprised, so when you have an adrenaline dump or some kind of a frustration, it’s gonna cause some stress, which is gonna cause fatigue. And also, he was up two weight classes.
Even though Conor helped to add fuel to the fire which was ‘I didn’t have enough energy, which created a false narrative – what I believe is a false narrative – that he has cardio and lung issues. I don’t think that’s true.
I think so many of us are talking about if Conor can land the left, or Khabib can land the takedown. But it’s usually an intangible.
It’s never about who – very seldomly – is about who is technically more proficient, who’s more dynamic, who’s more explosive. Those things all have a little piece of the pie, but it’s generally an intangible. And generally, when you have to get ready for a fight, outside of that lucky punch or submission, you have to plan for a worst-case scenario, which is to be there out there all night long.
Khabib fights McGregor in the main event of UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor on October 6, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.