Conor McGregor is well aware of the fact that he doesn’t get paid by the minute in the Octagon.
The Irishman has made a habit of getting opponents out of the fight early, with 13 first round knockouts to his name in his professional career.
Perhaps his most famous finish came via the left hook that robbed former long-time featherweight champion Jose Aldo of his consciousness in just 13 seconds when they finally crossed paths in the main event of UFC 194 last December.
That bout, the shortest title fight in UFC history, offered the best evidence of the unprecedented power possessed by McGregor at 145lbs and training partner Dillon Danis reckons ‘The Notorious’ can recreate that swift stoppage against Eddie Alvarez at lightweight this weekend.
Danis, brought on board to improve McGregor’s grappling, has been training alongside the Dubliner for the majority of this year and he has suggested that McGregor is capable of eclipsing the famous 13 second knockout under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.
“I feel it will be a knockout, either late in the first or maybe early second. Or it could be a quick one. It could be quicker than Jose Aldo, maybe three seconds,” Danis told Submission Radio.
“He has a three second knockout so it could be really quick because Eddie just charges in. Conor is too precise, he’s going to pick him apart. He’s going to knock him out I feel.”
Similarities have already been noticed between Aldo and Alvarez in terms of how both men throw a particular combination, the one that opened the Brazilian up to the inch-perfect, lightning quick counter from McGregor.
Surely McGregor has spotted this too… https://t.co/sYUZvhDXmh
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 10, 2016
“He looks really sharp, I’ve never seen him like this,” Danis added. “He looks ready to kill. He’s in great shape and he just looks super sharp.
“I told him yesterday ‘You’re going to kill this man!’ and I’m ready to see what’s going to happen on Saturday. He’s going to make history. I believe in him 100 per cent.”
McGregor’s fastest knockout, as mentioned by Danis, came at the four second mark of his IFC win over Paddy Doherty.
Alvarez has left himself open to punishment in the past, so an early knockout isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
But for the Irish fans who have travelled across the Atlantic and splashed out on UFC 205 tickets, let’s hope they get a little more of a fight than four seconds.
Although we’re sure they’d take it.
The GAA Hour chats to Ballyea sensation Tony Kelly and features a raging argument over which road you should take from Clare to Wexford. Subscribe here on iTunes.
