Former UFC Lightweight champion Conor McGregor has said that his upcoming opponent Khabib Nurmagomedov is a dead man walking ahead of their Lightweight title fight at UFC 229 on Saturday.
McGregor will make his long awaited return to the Octagon this weekend as he attempts to win back his lightweight belt following a near two-year absence from the sport.
The Dubliner said that he plans to rattle the undefeated Nurmagomedov and that he’s looking forward to using his full arsenal of strikes following his professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year.
“I see him as a dead man walking,” said McGregor on the first episode of the UFC’s Embedded series.
“He’ll shit his jocks like he always does, it’s nothing new. I’m going to go in, smack him hard, rattle his head and raise that gold once again.”
McGregor admitted that his fight with Mayweather last year was akin to a circus but that he feels that many fans forget the skills that he possesses since his last fight with Eddie Alvarez in November, 2016.
“I went around the world in that last one, it was like a circus. I put many of my tools into the toolbox and left them there when I stepped into that boxing ring so I think many people forget the skills that I possess. I look forward to going back out and proving once again that I am the pound-for-pound number one fighter on the planet.”
McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy feels that his extended absence from the cage will not be a factor in the fight despite mixed evidence to suggest that the phenomenon exists.
“I wouldn’t be worrying about the two years out of the octagon. He’s been training and he’s been spending plenty of time in the Octagon at the gym at home but it’s a lot freer now. We were limited to just the hands in the last fight but he’s now able to use all the tools and you can see that in his spars.
“He’s very creative, he’s using all the weapons and he looks phenomenal so it’s all looking good.”
