Issue 126

March 2015

Behind the underlined brand of braggadocio trumpeted by Conor McGregor, you don’t have to look far to see the wisdom that actually underpins it. McGregor appeared to be sledging Dennis Siver in the build-up to their Boston blockbuster, but the hard facts are McGregor was touting truth not toothless comments with attacks on positive doping tests and the like.

Gareth A Davies

MMA and Boxing Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, London, UK, on the philosophy that drives the UFC’s most colorful character 

The polarizing Irishman provided a new wisdom born of his adherence to the mysticism of Eastern philosophy. Not studied from books, but uncovered and discovered through graft. Like warriors of yore and his circle of friends... which is very small.

As ‘Mystic Mac’ likes to say, “a small circle equals big results.” It holds true, indeed. But McGregor’s greatest advancement of late comes in his holistic approach.

And as for the UFC title fight with José Aldo, forget Ireland, Dublin’s Croke Park and 80,000 fans for now. Forget the romantic dream. McGregor wanted Ireland, then Vegas. But it has to be in reverse.

Look at the hard facts. There is and was only one way to go with that. Expecting Aldo, already a raft of defenses of the championship into his reign, to travel to Ireland to maintain his position never looked right.

Las Vegas, the fight capital of the world and neutral territory, has to be the site for their title fight. It would have been untenable for the UFC to force Aldo to travel to fight in Ireland.

Defeat Aldo in Vegas this summer and McGregor can return across the pond with the spoils, the crown and a homecoming fight of such magnitude that it will go down as legend. In other words, all in good time, and indeed, at the right time.

Coach and mentor John Kavanagh described the latest stage in McGregor’s evolution as a cross between the strength of a power athlete and the flexibility of a yogi. McGregor saw himself – when he described it to me – “as a loose rock.” Kavanagh and I, in conversation, talked of a willow.

Powerful, whippy, strong and flexible: McGregor says he wants to become more fluid and more flexible with more control. “This is what martial arts is about,” he preaches. “It’s not about sessions anymore for me. I don’t just show up and do sessions. My session is daily. I wake up and I begin to stretch. I begin loosening up the body and trying to free the body.”

“The more loose and free I get, and the more control I get, everything else becomes easy.” McGregor is drawing comparisons with animals. “We’re the only animals that don’t wake up and stretch or move. 

“We get up and we go to the bathroom and brush our teeth and rush out the door. Our body is tight. We are not free. I wake up and I stretch in bed. I drink water, I loosen out and then I begin moving, I begin freeing the frame.”

These are old school philosophies, used by wise men, yogis and ancient warriors in Eastern climes. McGregor has not studied these things in books. They come from natural thought processes. McGregor truly is on the way to becoming a complete mixed martial artist.

GODDARD’S NEVADA LICENSE

Marc Goddard is well known to dedicated MMA fans worldwide for officiating high-profile events from inside the UFC Octagon and beyond, but he could be about to appear Stateside too.

The UK official has been in the very top tier of referees in this sport for some time, and it was with delight that it was made public recently he is applying for a referee’s license in Nevada.

It’s time the UFC not only used the best referees in different parts of the world, but brought the very best referees to the biggest events. Good move. Right move.

THE POLISH EXPERIMENT

In the MMA arms race to produce the first European UFC champion in 15 years – Bas Rutten as heavyweight champion back in 1999 – a three-way contest is seemingly underway between Sweden, Ireland and Poland. 

My belief is that it could be Poland who get to stake their flag through former Muay Thai world champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. I was deeply impressed with her when she showed real ability to think her way through a fight against Claudia Gadelha in December.  

The unbeaten 27-year-old is 8-0 in MMA and meets the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion Carla Esparza on March 14th at UFC 185. She’ll need all her fighting intelligence. Don’t write her off. And by March, we should all be able to pronounce her name properly.