“Take away my guys, he’s got some of the best hands in MMA. I’m going to be partial to all of my guys, but he has some of the best hands that I’ve ever seen.”
That was Mark Henry’s assessment of Conor McGregor before UFC 205. It is fair to say ‘The Notorious’ has gone up in the coach’s estimation since knocking out one of his ‘guys’, Eddie Alvarez, in the second round of their lightweight title bout in Madison Square Garden.
Having previously been sucked into a war of words with McGregor, Alvarez’s coach has been striking a conciliatory note for some time now, however on Tuesday’s ‘Luke Thomas Show’ he went from appeasement to outright adoration.
Henry told the Sirius XM Rush presenter that he believes the Dubliner is a once-in-a-century talent who has the boxing ability to knock out Floyd Mayweather.
McGregor put Alvarez on the canvas three times in the opening round alone and Henry easily identified the moment he knew his lightweight champion was in trouble.
“When Conor hit him the first time,” he said. “I think Conor too, man, you cannot teach someone to hit like that. It takes hips, it takes certain shoulders, it takes a flick of the wrists.
“There are so many tiny mechanics, like what it takes to make an eyeball work is like what it takes to make the perfect swing. Like Babe Ruth, I just compare Conor, his swing, to Babe Ruth,” added Henry, who admitted seeing McGregor in the flesh is very different to watching footage.
“I always watch tape of it but to be that close is a whole other thing. It comes along once every generation or once every 100 years or whatnot. God has just blessed him with a swing that I will probably never see again.”
Here's to you @TheNotoriousMMA 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪 congratulations 2 div champ well deserved! 🙏🏼 🏆🏆. God Bless your new family! https://t.co/4z84xqBqCL
— Mark Henry (@MarkCoachmark13) November 16, 2016
“I think this dude could take out Mayweather,” said Henry. “I don’t know if it went far but I could easily see him knocking anybody out.”
Listen to the interview below.
