‘Everybody is on board now. I hope you’s all believe.’
Paddy Holohan believes Conor McGregor’s current rise in the MMA world compares with Ireland’s Italia 90 heroics.
Holohan, who is in Glasgow ahead of UFC Fight Night, has predicted his Straight Blast Gym teammate will unify the featherweight belt by defeating Jose Aldo, before stepping up to dominate at 155lbs.
The Dubliner watched The Notorious defeat Chad Mendes in Harry’s on the Green while ‘drinking water and eating lettuce’.
He declared, ‘When Conor won, I stepped back and looked around a bit. People were hugging each other.
‘Like, we’re crap at football but we got into it once* back in Italia 90. We made it to the quarter finals… it was a big deal.’
‘I was only two,’ he added, ‘but I could feel the vibe then. All the paths were painted green; the walls. There is a mural on the wall for Italia 90 and it gets refreshed every few years, and this [happened] years ago.
‘I know we belong on those walls. We’re going to be on those walls in the future.’
Holohan, who fights Vaughan Lee in Glasgow, got slightly choked up when talking about McGregor handing over house keys to his mother soon after he got one of his big UFC cheques.
‘I want to do that; hand my mother the keys to her own house. I want her to look at me and say “Fair play to you. You grew up and became a man”.’
Hat-tip: MMA Crazy
