At Wednedsday’s press conference, Mystic Mac spit fire and predictions.
“I believe I will dust Rafael inside one minute,” he said. “He is a slower, sloppier version of Aldo. He’s like a bum version of Aldo. I believe in absolutely everything, I believe that inside one minute I will dust him. I will exit the contest fresh, I will cash the check, I will sign the next contract for UFC 200 — the brand new MGM — and we’ll go again.”
“You can talk about your wins and losses, but at the end of the day you’ve tasted that darkness of being KO’d stiff and you will taste it again on March 5.”
“I’m the bigger man here. I’m gonna bully this man in his own division.”
“It will be another KO. I’d love to beat the ugly out of him and drag him into the second and third rounds. I would love to do that. But I feel like I’m gonna dust him in under one minute.”
For the record, Dos Anjos is 5′ 8″ with a 70″ reach. McGregor is 5′ 9″ with a 74″ reach.
Those were not the sole numbers that McGregor discussed. He also said that by year’s end, he wanted three title belts – 145, 155, and 170.
“I am an active champion,” he explained. “I will fight in many weight divisions. I like the sound of the 170-pound title, I’ve got to be honest with you. I feel I can take down them three gold belts, so, and I feel like I can do it by the year’s end.”
I chose this one because I came into this promotion as a two-weight world champion (at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship), and I always wanted to replicate that. That was the goal, continue to create history. This man across from me has a title and nothing else but that. He is a free TV fighter, and he has nothing else to offer me except that gold belt. That was the simple decision.
UFC 197: dos Anjos vs. McGregor takes place on March 5, 2016 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a UFC Lightweight Championship bout between division champion Rafael dos Anjos and UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor. This will be only the second time in UFC history that current champions in different divisions fght for a title. The first time was at UFC 194 on January 31, 2009, when then-UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre defended his title against then-lightweight champion B.J. Penn.
