The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, famously call the round he would win in.
He will be mine, in round nine, and I ain’t lyin’.
He must fall in eight, to prove that I am great.
He wanted to go to heaven, so I took him in seven.
If he’d be in a word of fix, I cut it to six.
If he keeps talkin’ jive, he will fall in five.
If he makes me sore, I’ll get him in round four, like before, with Archie Moore, on the floor.
If that don’t do, we’ll get him in two.
If he runs, we can get him in one.
If he don’t wanna fight, he should keep his ugly self at home that night.
Archie Moore did in fact fall in four.
Conor McGregor has borrowed a page from the Book of Ali, and in the fight before last, he raised the bet, literally, offering UFC co-owners Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White a $3,000,000 bet that Mendes would lose by KO in Round 2. Mendes did of course lose by KO, with just three seconds left in Round 2.
McGregor did it again last night, predicting a KO win in the first four minutes. However, McGregor even predicted the set up to the 13 second ending.
At the post-fight press conference, the UG’s own ever awesome Robin Black got the first question. He asked the undisputed featherweight champion how he predicted the outcome so accurately.
And then he read him back Conor’s own words, from Thursday, when the pair had spoken.
“I felt when we stared down, I felt his right hand was clinching, which was a subtle tell for me,” read Black, quoting McGregor, as transcribed by Chuck Mindenhall for MMAFighting. “He is ready to unload that right hand and I feel that could be a downfall for him. If he lets that right hand go, I will not be there. I simply enter the way I enter, and that is enough. They either over-extend, or they shrink away. Either way it is not good for them. I will create traps and dead space inside that Octagon, and I will either rock him into that dead space, but all of a sudden he will be in danger.”
So McGregor actually visualized the ending.
“If you can see it here, and you have the courage enough to speak it, it will happen,” said McGregor. “So, I see his shots. I see his sequences. And I don’t shy away from them. A lot of times people believe in seeing things but they keep it to themselves. They don’t put it out there. You truly believe it if you become vocal with it. It actually will become reality.
“I knew he would overextend. And I knew I would catch him, so, ‘Mystic Mac’ strikes again.”
If you are a member of the hardcore MMA fanbase, do yourself a favor, and follow Robin Black.
