Conor McGregor is making waves in MMA. Whether it's his brash personality, unshakable self confidence, or power punching fighting style, there's just something about him that draws the eye. Recently, Marcos Villegas of FightHub got the chance to talk with top boxing coach Freddie Roach and one of the topics on offer was Conor McGregor.
Roach gave his thoughts on the UFC super star and a former UFC super star's thoughts on McGregor as well:
"Obviously he's fun to watch. He talks a good game, he backs it up so far, he's moving up a weight class. I was just with Georges St-Pierre recently, this week, up in Montreal. Georges might be thinking that he maybe shouldn't be moving up in weight so quickly, because he says it might be a different outcome with the bigger weight class, of course. But, so far he's proven everyone wrong and he's knocking everyone out. He's fun to watch. I like him."
In addition, Roach took a good look at McGregor's recent KO of Jose Aldo and gave a quick breakdown of what he felt went wrong for Aldo, and right for the new featherweight champ:
"The thing was, it was a great step back, because it's like people say, 'Don't move back in a straight line,' though. But if a guy follows you in that straight line, the thing is, it can be very effective. So what he did, he stepped back, but he set himself. He was in the ready position and as Aldo picked his foot up and came to him, he knocked him out with a shot. I mean, it's a very common shot in boxing, but something you teach your fighters not to make that mistake, of course. And one thing about the standup of MMA fighters, they don't have a lot of experience with the standup game, so much. And that proved it right there. He just doesn't have a lot of experience in the standup game and he walked right into a shot. Which has happened a couple of times with the Irish boys. But he is fun, he's exciting, and he can punch."
It's hard to think of Jose Aldo as a guy who "doesn't have a lot of experience in the standup game," but then again it's also pretty hard to argue with technical advice from one of the best boxing coaches in the world.
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